Middle School students capitalize on 'far out' opportunity.

By Brendan O'Brien | Campus, Middle School, Student Life

The term “Dog Days” is often used to describe the slow, sultry days of summer. And even though the arrival of August means another academic year will soon be upon us, there are still some dog days left. Days spent hiking or swimming or at a ballgame. Days when life seems to move a little bit slower. The perfect time, we figured, to look back on some impactful moments that unfolded in the chaos that is the conclusion of any school year. Enjoy!

Prairie’s founder, Gene Johnson, loved outer space. The evening of July 29th, 2025, when a pair of meteor showers – the Southern Delta Aquarids and Alpha Capricornids – both reached their peak, was the kind of night she would have eagerly peered into the lens of her telescope to watch the magic unfold in the night sky. It got us thinking about Prairie’s ongoing commitment to curiosity, science, and discovery. 

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As the classic saying goes, when opportunity knocks in the form of a giant overhauled bus strategically outfitted with awesome, space-themed science equipment, you get on that bus.

Okay maybe that’s not **exactly** how the saying goes, but opportunity did knock this spring in the form of the Dream Flight USA Foundations’ STEM Shuttle and students in Prairie’s 6th and 7th Grade eagerly answered the call by climbing aboard the one-of-a-kind vessel. 

Equipped with hands-on work stations, the students were tasked with solving real world problems and thinking like engineers. Working in teams, they tackled challenges in robotics, spectrometry, star maps, and more. 

“The stations required students to problem solve and look at failure as an opportunity to rethink and try again,” said Kathy Boero, Head of Middle School. “Collaboration, using steady hands, thinking creatively, and stretching stamina to solve real-world problems are important experiences for Middle School students to acquire.”

Did You Know: In 1979, thanks in large part to Gene Johnson’s love of space, Prairie sponsored a Space Colonization Science Symposium on campus that was attended by NASA educator Gregory Vogt and astronaut Brian O’Leary. O’Leary was one of eleven astronauts named to the NASA Astronaut Group 6 in August of 1967, the second-ever group of scientist-astronauts.