Fall 2009 OLLI Luncheon -- September 9, 2009

More than 300 OLLI members celebrated the beginning of the Fall 2009 season by attending the 15th annual Kickoff Luncheon on Wednesday, September 9 at the Michel Student Center at Bradley University.

Following a piano prelude by OLLI member Norma Gangloff, members were welcomed to campus by Continuing Education Executive Director Janet Lange. Our 2008-2009 OLLI Student Volunteer of the Year, Michelle Kosner, made some brief comments about her award-winning program Paws Giving Independence, a group that rescues dogs from animal shelters and trains them to become service dogs for individuals with disabilities.

After enjoying a lunch of tossed green salad with pear slices and walnuts, chicken provencale, au gratin potatoes, broccoli Normandy, and pumpkin surprise, OLLI members welcomed their keynote speaker -- who just happens to be the daughter of OLLI Treasurer Jim Kostas!

Patti A. French, functional director for flight software at United Space Alliance, LLC, gave an interesting and educational presentation about the space shuttle program, the international space station, and other NASA projects.

She explained how the shuttle program, now more than a quarter-century old, has launched 72 satellites into space. The program also delivered the Hubble space telescope in 1990, and has followed up with four additional serving visits to the telescope. The majority of work for the shuttle at present is assembling and maintaining the international space station.

Patti also walked us through the amazing facts of a shuttle launch: at liftoff, the shuttle weighs 4.5 million pounds and accelerates up to 18,000 miles per hour (37 million horsepower) to reach orbit. She is personally responsible for developing software changes that can be uploaded to the orbiting shuttle when problems occur during flight (such as malfunctioning alarm systems).

Lastly, Patti listed just a few of the innovations made possible due to the nation's space program, including: noninvasive medical imaging, implantable heart and insulin pumps, artificial hearts, communication satellites, and land mine removal techniques.

A special thanks goes to our Luncheon Committee for planning such a wonderful day: Lucy McCrea, Coordinator; Ruth Bowden, Carolyn Hancock, Merilynn Hyland, and Nancy Taylor.