And suddenly, the Pamper Pole made even more sense than it did before: an epiphany moment.

Today, I had my students complete a 20 Things about Me survey to help us get to know each other. Since we wouldn’t have time to share all of our answers with our class, I asked my students to choose one thing to share. We went around the room, and each student said their name and the item they chose to share.

I had already planned to show my students the video of me climbing the Pamper Pole at space camp this summer. It was going to be my response to the question, “What is the craziest thing you’ve ever done?”

Each class watched the video with oohs, aahs, “that looks scary”, and other such comments. They wanted to know why I did it, where I did it, who I was with. And as I answered their questions and explained why I wanted to show them the video, I had an epiphany moment when all the things I have been focusing on recently pull together as part of one big picture.

I shared with my students that just because you meet a challenge that is scary, and you are not sure you will succeed, you still need to try. Just like my Team Kennedy teammates were there to support me on the pole, our class will support each other. I told them I knew that even if I “fell” I wouldn’t fall to injury because I knew Team Kennedy had my back. In the same way, we need to look out for each other. I explained it’s so much better to try a huge challenge and need help to succeed then to never try at all. And this fits so nicely into our Dare Mighty Things focus, too.

At that moment, I realized that Pamper Pole was not just about the team building within Team Kennedy and reaching a personal goal, it was a life lesson to bring back to my students. It was so I could show them in a video what supporting each other looks like when we meet a great challenge. It was a way to illustrate the ideas of our classroom community, and I do not think I could have done it any more clearly.

So, thank you Honeywell and Advanced Space Academy. Thank you Team Kennedy. Thank you for helping me bring back this beautiful lesson to my students. I think we’ve all benefited from that crazy challenge up the Pamper Pole. You can bet that my classes and I are ready to Dare Mighty Things!