HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — Space Camp in Huntsville is celebrating 35 years this year.
The popular attraction is based at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, and more than 800,000 people have graduated from the Space Camp. However, the Space Camp has less than half of the names and contact information fall all of the alumni that have passed through their doors.
“I may have been a little nerdy in school or a little different,” says Ben Chandler, the current Space Camp Alumni Association President.
Chandler first attended Space Camp in 1995, but he ended up attended the camp more times than he has walked the moon. “I came 14 times,” said Chandler. “Space Camp gave me the confidence to go back and pursue what I was truly passionate about.”
Chandler says staying at the camp that is based on learning about everything pertaining to outer space changed his life for the better.
“Space Camp was a life-changing experience for me, personally,” said Chandler.
Chandler’s new mission is to reconnect as many alumni from the Space Camp as he possibly can. “With more alumni involvement, we feel like we can do much more,” said Chandler.
Some well-known attendees of Space Camp are Chelsea Clinton and Charlize Theron, and people have traveled from Coast to Coast to attend the popular attraction.
“Houston, Chicago, Middle Tennessee, Georgia, Alabama obviously,” explained Chandler. “We have alumni from across the globe – China, Australia, Canada, Turkey, you name it.”
The problem with the alumni list is that it only features a fraction of those who have traveled for a fun week in Huntsville. “The consistency of that data refinement has changed over the years, and it is unfortunate that we don’t have records for alumni pre-1989,” said Chandler.
Chandler believes having a stronger Alumni network will allow graduates to relive their childhood and give back to the community in hopes that they can brighten someone else’s life.
“We’d like to send a lot of people to space camp,” said Chandler.
Because somewhere out there, its possible, there’s another Ben Chandler ready to blast off into their life’s next passion. “It gave me the confidence to go back to school and remain passionate about everything.
How to sign up:
- Go to www.spacecampalumni.com
- Click the “Sign Up” tab at the top of the page.
- At the top of the page, click on the “Click here” button.
- Fill out your personal information.
By joining, you also get discounted tickets to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center and will be invited to join an exclusive Facebook group just for former campers.
This story originally appeared on WHNT 19.
