By Mark Boshnack
Two graduates from Richfield Springs Central School came back Monday to tell students that they can reach the stars.
Brothers Michael Sarafin, class of '90, and James Sarafin, class of '92, work for the National Aeronautic and Space Administration in Houston.
They participated in the ninth annual Science Symposium, which this year focused on NASA's current and future missions. School technology director Jim Hill said this session was unique because it brought the two brothers back to the school for the first time to talk about their jobs.
"It's interesting when you have people on the front lines who are willing to discuss the topics," he said about the annual sessions. But having two graduates show students there are a lot of possibilities makes it "very special indeed," he said.
Michael Sarafin is one of less than 75 flight directors in the history of NASA. He discussed his job at the afternoon session in the large group-instruction room. His responsibilities include leading the team of mission specialists during space shuttle and International Space Station missions. He said he must take any action necessary to ensure the safety of the mission. This requires him to be constantly training to prepare to "expect the unexpected," he said.
"It is important to be constantly learning if you want to advance in your field," he told the students.
After graduating from Clarkson University in 1994, he worked on shuttle software, he said. In 1995, he successfully applied to be a mission-control specialist and was in charge of guidance, navigation and flight control until 2005, when he earned his current status.
He was born and raised on a dairy farm in Jordanville, he said. He recalled how his fourth-grade class at Richfield watched the first shuttle flight take off in 1981.
"It definitely caught my eye and got me interested in space flight," he said.
He has spoken at other seminars about NASA, but "It was nice coming to my hometown and seeing teachers, faculty and staff at Richfield Springs," he said.
James Sarafin talked at the later of two morning sessions about his role as critical-systems lead at NASA's neutral buoyancy lab, which helps train astronauts for space walks.
He leads a team of five in maintaining and upgrading the life-support systems that the crews need while they are in the water training. After attending Richfield, he graduated from SUNY Morrisville with an associate's degree in auto service in 1994 before moving to Houston with his brother. He worked as a technician in the automotive industry before applying for the NASA job in 1997.
He never expected to be at NASA while attending Richfield, he said.
"It doesn't matter where you are from," he recalled telling the students. "It's a matter of learning your trade and applying yourself."
The day began with a presentation by State University College at Oneonta Dean of Science and Social Science Michael Merilan, who spoke about the accomplishments of the Hubble Space Telescope and its planned successor, the James Webb Space Telescope.
The message seemed to resonate with the students who participated.
These included Richfield Springs student Bobby Moshier, an 11th-grader who said he heard a lot of interesting facts and figures. While he is not interested in a career in NASA, the symposium gave him a chance to hear there are opportunities for a career even when one is from a small town like Richfield Springs.
Eleventh-grader Emily Matteson said it was "neat" to hear that students from her school can go on and "do cool things." When she was younger, she wanted to be an astronaut, but now she is interested in pursuing a career in molecular biology and stem-cell research. Still, Matteson said she heard information at the seminar that could be helpful in future planning.
Hill said there were about 120 students and teachers from the 10 schools including Laurens, Milford and Edmeston that participated in the seminar.
You could tell the students were engaged by the number of questions they asked, he said.
The symposium gives students a chance to participate in a college-like environment, which can be an eye-opener, he said.
