6:15 on a Friday morning. 38 students and five adults gathered in front of Edward Harris, Jr. Middle School and boarded a bus for the State Capitol.

Our purpose, to witness an historical event: the final flight of the space shuttle Endeavour.

It was the end of an era, but it is also the beginning of a new era. A new era with new goals for which our students will provide the inspiration, creativity, inventiveness, leadership and hard work.

We were met at the Capital by Donald Jones (back right), Director of New Ventures and Communications at NASA Ames Research Center and Matt Sorgenfrei (front left), a UC Davis engineering grad student.

EHMS students were media darlings this week. On Wednesday, KXTV (News 10) taped a story. On Thursday, they did another taping with Univision (Channel 19).

Today, KCRA News (Channel 3) interviewed them several times for live TV. They were also interviewed by Fox 40, Capitol Television News Service, and The Sacramento Bee. Below are some of the students talking with KCRA reporter Richard Sharp.

Endeavour’s takeoff was delayed an hour (because of expected fog in the bay area), but nobody complained about the extra wait. We were extra lucky; Endeavour flew over from the south and then banked east. She looped over Roseville and made a second pass over our heads. It was a beautiful sight!

After the dual flyovers, we took a quick tour inside the Capitol building.

When we exited the Capitol, Donald James had some goodies for us.

As we headed to the bus, everyone was requesting pictures with KCRA reporters Lisa Gonzalez and Richard Sharp. To save some time (our bus was waiting!), we settled for a group photo.

We, the teachers and administrators for this trip, are extremely proud of how well our students represented Edward Harris, Jr. Middle School. You behaved perfectly. You even kept your cool on live television!

YOU ARE AWESOME!!!