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MSRAL 2021

 CONFERENCE 

Friday, June 4th to Sunday, June 6th at Broken Arrow, Oklahoma

MSAL 2021 is COVID-19 Compliant

Large rooms for social distancing,  means limited attendance

State school mask mandate,

Easy access to hand sanitizers

Conference  and food service will be aligned with  OK  state  guidelines

in place in June 2021.

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Broken Arrow Sidewalk Astronomer

The Mid-States Regional Astronomical League Conference 2021

Is being hosted by Broken Arrow Sidewalk Astronomer at Northeastern State University, Broken Arrow Campus.  It is located on 3100 E.  New Orleans / 101st Street, (918) 449-6000.  Under current mandates a maximum of 125 adults will be permitted to attend as the rooms being used, allow for social distancing.

 

Registration will be held on the second floor lobby starting at noon to 5:00pm on Friday, June 4th, 2021.  There is a youth conference planned in tandem with the adults for students, from 6th grade to 12th grade and the maximum student attendance under current mandates is 25 students.

AS MANDATES AND POLICIES CHANGE, MORE ATTENDEES WILL BE WELCOMED.

 

With events out of anyone's control, to1)  secure a larger facility that will allow for ample social distancing, 2)  covid meal preparations, and 3) with no out side, more reasonably priced snack items allowed in the room, has (much to our dismay), resulted in a registration fee that normally is not in the range of a MSRAL.  Thank you for understanding, it has been difficult trying to get this conference back in Oklahoma after an 18 year absence.

FRIDAY JUNE 4th:  after registering attendees are encouraged to visit down town Broken Arrow on Main Street, also called the Rose District.  Here, you will have two museums and eateries, deserts, a wine bar and a brewery to entice you!

At 6:00, guests will make their way to The Great Oasis Bar and Grill for dinner and a surprise event (still in the works).  See VENUE tab for details.

 

SATURDAY, JUNE 5th: The ballroom on the second floor, will be the site for the conference since food and drink will be allowed in this room.  With a capacity of 350 people,  social distancing for those desiring will be available as well as rectangle tables for convenience.

This room rental comes with audio visual personnel so all that is needed is  a thumb drive.  These large rooms do not have Zoom capability at this time.

 

Around the ballroom corner and across the walkway to the other building are smaller classrooms, where the youth will meet for their own sessions from 10:00am to 3:30pm.

 

The Saturday night banquet will be held upstairs, back in the ballroom with round, socially distanced tables and a staff served buffet under all food handling covid protocols. Please go to REGISTRATION tab for specifics.

SUNDAY, JUNE 6th:  sessions will be on the first floor in the 388 seat auditorium classroom that only allows for bottled water.  There will be beverage service in the hallway / lobby.  This classroom also has audio visual staff that comes with the room so bring a thumb drive.

 

An 18 block room discount has been offered at the Quality Inn off Aspen.  MAKE SURE YOU SAY MID STATES REGIONAL CONFERENCE WHEN REGISTERING.   Please go to HOTEL tab.

Student Conference for 6th Grade to High School

Students from 6th grade to high school will have their socially distanced classroom that under normal conditions, will sit 75 people, and only 25 under covid restrictions.  As mandates change, we will love to fill this room to full capacity. 

 

Youth will receive their own registration packet, special giveaways, solar observing/sketching with the St. Louis Astronomical Society and Broken Arrow Sidewalk Astronomer, a special STE(A)M lunar activity with Peggy Walker, with a couple TBD still in the works. There is one maybe two other pending activities that will be add once confirmed so stay tuned.

SPEAKERS

Sunday, June 6th, 11:00am - 12:00pm "MSRAL Back in the Day"

Peggy Walker got involved in astronomy on a visit to the Lowell Observatory and saw the full moon through a scope, 4” Orion Star Blaster in 2005.  Peggy and Rick joined the Sidewalk Astronomers and she helped to plan John Dobson’s 95th birthday party at the Griffith Observatory, Peggy is also on the board of the Sidewalk Astronomers.  Peggy and Rick joined John Dobson and Donna Smith on many sidewalk events in California.  She then was invited to be on staff with Astronomers Without Borders and helped plan the Global Astronomy Month activities and was also a member of the People With Disabilities Working group, (developing and working on tactile resources), and as AWB National Coordinator, she managed the National Coordinators world-wide.

She is President of Broken Arrow Sidewalk Astronomer and conducts countless classroom and STEAM nights in the local school systems, scouting, and home school organizations.  Peggy conducted monthly presentations at local libraries for several years, donated two Library Telescopes that she won to the library system.  She was voted on the Astronomical League’s National Council to fill the Youth Coordinator position that was vacant for 12 years, in 2017.  She is working on the ALCon Jr. family STEAM activities that will be offered at the National ALCon’s, and has a column in the League's Reflector magazine.

She has a partnership with Insight Observatory which will start a monthly collaboration on Facebook live streams for families, home school students and the general cosmic loving population.  The first session is still in the planning stages so follow Broken Arrow Sidewalk Astronomer on Facebook for more details.

Peggy, currently is the MSRAL Chairperson, the newly elected MSRAL Regional Representative, and a member of the 75th Anniversary Planning Committee for 2021-2022.  Her favorite astronomy interests are black holes, archeoastronomy and development of tactile resources for visually impaired.

Saturday, June 5th, 10:00 am  - 11:00am "International Dark Sky Chapters"

Don Ficken is a retired business executive whose passion for protecting our night sky from light pollution grew out of his love for nature and the science of astronomy.  In 2018, he helped launch a Missouri Chapter of the International Dark-Sky Association (“IDA”) where he currently serves as President.  He is well known both regionally and nationally for his role as founder of the St. Louis Eclipse Task Force which grew to over 160 organizations working together to prepare the St. Louis area for the historic 2017 Total Solar Eclipse, and for his role in promoting the Library Telescope Program in the St. Louis metro area and nationally.  


Don is frequently interviewed by print and broadcast media on issues related to astronomy, IDA and the programs he manages.  He was featured in a 2017 article in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch related to his work with the St. Louis Eclipse Task Force and has received many awards for his outreach and community work, most recently the prestigious “2018 Las Cumbres Amateur Outreach Award” from the Astronomical Society of the Pacific based in California.

Saturday, June 5th, Keynote Banquet Speaker

Dr. Kathryn Garner-Vandy is an Assistant Professor of Aviation and Space at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, OK.  She has a PhD in Planetary Sciences from the University of Arizona and a BS Geology summa cum laude from the University of Oklahoma, where she also learned how to fly.  Dr. Kat's two main loves are space and flight.  Her research interests include the study of meteorites, planetary differentiation, commercial space flight, student pilot flight training, and STEM education in underrepresented groups.  She lives in Tulsa with her husband and four children and in her spare time, she enjoys boxing and weight lifting.

Saturday, June 5th, 2:30pm  -  3:30pm "TBD"


 

Sunday, June 6th, 9:00am  - 10:00am TBD

 

Saturday, June 5th, 11:00am  - 12:00pm "Real Science with Your Telescope and CCD"

After joining the Peoria IL Astronomical Society as a youth, Gary went on to major in astronomy at the University of Illinois-Urbana.  Changing majors to become a high school and college band director, Gary later attended seminary, pastored in Nebraska and continued in astronomy as an avocation in Iowa and Nebraska.  Gary taught astronomical continuing education courses at junior colleges and founded Northwest Iowa Astronomy Club and Northeast Nebraska Astronomy Club.  NENAC became an Astronomical League club member in 2019.  Gary continues to oversee NENAC, assists and supports area science teachers in their classrooms, aids in getting telescopes into region libraries, presents programs at other regional astronomy clubs and continues his membership in the American Association of Variable Star Observers where he has contributed over 3000 observations.

 

Gary and Sharon Fugman enjoy their river house on the Missouri River in Decatur NE, sharing boating and water skiing with others, playing trumpet in the NE-Brass-ka Brass Quintet, enjoying the dark, night sky with others looking through 12.5" and 17.5" reflecting telescopes and visiting their daughter and grandsons in Costa Rica.  You can reach Gary at fugman@abbnebraska.com.  You can visit NENAC by searching "NENAC stars".

Saturday, June 5th, 1:30pm  -  2:30pm "Oklahoma's Official Deep Sky Object"

Saturday, June 5th, 3:30pm  -  4:00pm "Mars 2020 Rover"

Seth Fenderson is a fifth grader at Legacy Christian Academy in Broken Arrow.  He began his interest in astronomy when his dad started showing him the stars and planets after he joined the Astronomy Club of Tulsa.

Seth soon started attending the meetings with his dad to grow his knowledge base.  In addition to astronomy Seth enjoys reading, drawing, Legos and video games.  His future plans are to be an engineer for NASA someday.

Seth is learning to master his 8 inch Meade Schmidt-Cassegrain Telescope that he adopted from  Broken Arrow Sidewalk Astronomer.

Seth received the Horkeheimer O'Mera Award in 2020 from the Astronomical League.


 

Sunday, June 6th, 10:00am  - 11:00am TBD

 

CONFERENCE SPEAKERS

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