Central Catholic High School
Office of Institutional Advancement
2550 Cherry Street
Toledo, Ohio 43608
Phone: 419-255-2280
www.centralcatholic.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 23, 2012
Former NASA Flight Director Gene Kranz to Speak at Central Catholic
On Wednesday, November 28, Central Catholic High School will welcome Mr. Gene Kranz, author of Failure is Not an Option, as the featured speaker in the CCHS Reads program. Mr. Kranz, a 1951 Central Catholic graduate, is a former NASA Mission Control flight director for the Gemini and Apollo missions.
Mr. Kranz will speak to students and staff at a 2:00 p.m. assembly in the Central Catholic Sullivan Center. The assembly is open to the general public for an admission fee of $15 per person.
Mr. Kranz will also be featured at a special leadership luncheon at the Toledo Club on Tuesday, November 27 at 11:30 a.m. with an admission price of $50. This event will include an opportunity for a picture with Mr. Kranz and a book signing.
Please contact the CCHS main office at 419-255-2280 for tickets and more information about these events.
Gene Kranz was a NASA Mission Control flight director for Gemini 4, which featured the first space walk by an American astronaut, and for Apollo 11, the mission that fulfilled President Kennedy’s pledge to land a man on the moon. He also led the team that helped the crew of Apollo 13 to return safely to earth, and actor Ed Harris played Kranz in the Apollo 13 film. In December 2007, Kranz received NASA’s Ambassador of Exploration Award, which consists of a lunar sample, and he presented the award to Central Catholic to display in a special room of the school’s library.
All the students at Central Catholic have been reading the book, Failure is Not an Option, and teachers are incorporating it into classroom lessons in many subject areas. The project will culminate with Mr. Kranz’s personal visit to the school.
The CCHS Reads program began at Central Catholic during the 2006-07 school year to encourage students to read for fun. In the program, teachers and students read the same book and then study it as it is integrated into classroom lessons. CCHS Reads is designed to promote lifelong reading by encouraging students to read and discuss an author’s work before and after the author visits the school for an all-school assembly.
###