Meet the team from the Kickapoo High School

Opened in 1971, Kickapoo High School is the youngest of five high schools in Springfield, Missouri. Its name is drawn from the history and tradition of the land upon which the school is located. In the early 1800s, this land, known as the Kickapoo Prairie, was inhabited by the Kickapoo Indian tribe with a large village located in the approximate area of the school grounds. The area was the center of an Indian trace running from St. Louis to the Arkansas River — a trace used by several Native American tribes during their winter hunting trips.

Kickapoo's excellence is nationally recognized. It is the only Springfield Public School to earn the distinction of National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence by the United States Department of Education, and has achieved this honor twice — in 1983 and 1998. Additionally, the Kickapoo Science department has been nationally and regionally recognized with its rocket teams, Mars research teams, science Olympiad and was recently the winner of the 2010-11 CLSE Lunar Research High School Competition.

The Kickapoo Lunar Research Team consists of four students; Abby Delawder, Austin Beason, and Tori Wilson and the only returning member from the 2010–11 team, Cody Carroll. The goals of the Lunar Research Team is to emphasize critical thinking and problem solving skills towards the origins and geologic history of the moon providing students the opportunity to incorporate the use of geologic knowledge, technology, and communication skills in conducting and presenting their experimental research.

Meet the Kickapoo High School Mentor, Dr. Georgiana Kramer

George is a postdoctoral researcher at the LPI-JSC Center for Lunar Science and Exploration. Her role at CLSE utilizes her expertise in reflectance spectroscopy. Using remote sensing data from Clementine, Kaguya, Chandrayaan-1, and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, she characterizes the morphology and composition of the lunar surface. Dr. Kramer's broader interests are in the chemistry and mineralogy of the Moon, asteroids, and other planetary surfaces through integrated sample and remote sensing data analysis. Recently, she focuses on the chemical, physical and spectral effects of space weathering. This research includes modeling the formation of lunar swirls and the creation and retention of space dew. Dr. Kramer is on the Moon Mineralogy Mapper Science Team.