NASA and Music Producer Pharrell Williams Encourage Virginia Students To Reach for the Stars

HAMPTON, Va., April 19, 2011 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- NASA and producer and recording artist Pharrell Williams will host an education event on Saturday, April 23, at Williams Farms Park in Virginia Beach, Va. The event is designed to encourage students to pursue science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) studies and careers.

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NASA's Associate Administrator for Education Leland Melvin who is a former astronaut and Williams, a Hampton Roads, Va., native, will deliver remarks. Williams' charitable organization, From One Hand to Another, is supporting the development of the Pharrell Williams Resource Center, which is scheduled to open in 2013 in the park. The center will run academic enrichment programs and engage youth in STEM activities.

Saturday's program also will feature NASA exhibits and showcase the accomplishments of students from Hampton Roads who participated last year in NASA's inaugural Summer of Innovation camps. More than 500 students who participated in the camps sponsored by NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., will be in attendance.

The event, which runs from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. EDT, is free and open to the public and reporters. To attend, news media should contact Ann Marie Trotta at 202-358-1601 or Amy Johnson at 757-864-7022 by 5 p.m. Thursday. In case of inclement weather, the event will be held at Bayside Middle School, 965 Newton Road, Virginia Beach.

NASA's Summer of Innovation is a key part of President Obama's Educate to Innovate campaign, which was launched to help keep middle school students engaged during school breaks. For more information about the program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/soi

For more information about NASA's education initiatives, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/education

For more information about From One Hand to Another, visit:

http://www.fohta.org

SOURCE NASA