Challenger

Twenty five years ago today, I was at a student council leadership camp for my elementary school.  We were at Keakealani Outdoor Education Center,  near Volcanoes National Park.  There is no cable TV there, and catchment water.   It got cold at night.  The director was this tall white haired man named Mr. Mortemore who knew just about everything there was to know about Hawaiian plants and animals.  (He later became the director of our zoo, which is also a botanical garden.)

I was mad because I didn't want to go on this trip.  Leadership camp was full of silly ice breakers and team building games like trust falls and themed skits.  Then they had workshops on topics ranging from Robert's Rules of Order to social skills.  Earlier in the year, my school was visited by Ellison Onizuka, a real live astronaut from Kona.  We were excited because nobody of any sort of significance ever visited my school (it's not like you can drive to Hawaii), but he was from the Big Island and so he came home.  Between this and Top Gun, all the boys wanted to be pilots in the Air Force or the Navy.  (We didn't have a lot of exposure to the military either, except for the occasional convoy on its way to Pohakuloa Training Area.)  Anyway, the rest of the kids were going to get to watch the Challenger launch on TV at school (during recess) and I had to miss out on it because I was stuck at this camp.

We were working on small group projects when Mr. Mortemore walked in to tell us that the Challenger exploded.

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We were talking about this at work this morning.  One of my co-workers was in high school, one was already in the Air Force, but the other two guys in the conversation were 3 and 6, respectively.  Nothing like these "where were you" discussions to make you feel old...  :)