By ALISA THOMAS

Staff Writer

Ruston High School’s Science Club has recently donated a fish tank to Tech’s NASA Education Resource Center, also known as the IDEA Place.

Glenn Beer, director of the Science and Technology Education Center, sees the donation as a reward for the center’s work.

“I am pleased the Science Club recognized the value of the work we do here and felt inspired to help us solve our fish overpopulation problem,” Beer said.

The 55-gallon tank will be placed in the IDEA Place and Resource Center along with several other tanks that are already present.

The high school’s Science Club and Teacher Cadets group have been involved with the IDEA Place for many years.

Aleta Overby, Ruston High’s science department chairwoman and Science Club and Teacher Cadet sponsor, considers the donation as a thank you for allowing use of the facilities for various events.

“We have used the IDEA Place for parties and field trips," Overby said. "We really felt that we wanted to show our appreciation by getting them the tank.”

In addition to Ruston High, the Resource Center also aids the community by providing professional development programs for in-service teachers.

The NASA Resource Center provides resources, equipment, workshops and science kits for use in the classroom by teacher candidates at the university as well as practicing teachers.

Beer perceives these connections and this service as a way of gaining support from the community.

”The IDEA Place depends upon the Science Club for their support and support from a number of other sources in the area are necessary in order to provide the services to the community that we provide,” Beer said.

Students who work in the IDEA Place and Resource Center consider the relationship between the center and the community an effort to reach out to the children in the area.

“The donation by Ruston High’s Science Club continues to aid the IDEA Place and its endeavor to reach diverse learners insuring that everyone who enters the IDEA Place leaves with an abundance of knowledge,” Brady Cox, a senior English education major, said.

Beer believes this donation is valuable to the university by not only helping prospective students of the university, but possibly prospective teachers.

Beer said, “The relationship with Teacher Cadets and the Science Club is beneficial to Tech because they are future students and future teachers, so we want to encourage them all we can.”