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Loudoun County
Public Schools
Farmwell Station Middle School
44281 Gloucester Parkway
Ashburn, Virginia 20147

February 28, 1997

Dear Dr. Ride,

A staff member, Mrs. Connie Myers has informed me of a new program KidSat, with which you are involved. It sounds very exciting and seems to be one our school would be a likely candidate for participation.

Farmwell Station Middle School is located in Loudoun County Virginia and is in its second year of operation. We are thirty minutes from Washington D.C. and only minutes from Dulles International Airport. Our current enrollment is approximately 1000 in grades six, seven and eight. [[highlight]]The school has the latest technological capabilities including three networked computer labs with 24 Macintosh computers each, all classrooms wired into the network with at least one data link, computers in each classroom, a graphic arts lab, Work & Family studies and Technology Education labs equipped with advanced synergistics modules, two dedicated data lines for student use, a ham radio station and a staff that is "into" the use of technology in the classroom.[[/highlight]]

We have a School Business Partnership with Orbital Science Corporation, a company that designs, builds, and launches rockets in order to place satellites into orbit. The company headquarters are in our area.

I believe there is a tremendous interest in space and space exploration among our students. The [[highlight]]teachers in[[/highlight]] Technology Education [[highlight]]expressed interest[[/highlight]] in making it a part of their program upon hearing about KidSat.

[[highlight]]Although I cannot commit unlimited financial resources to implement the program at Farmwell Station, I can guarantee a high level of enthusiasm and competence from our school and school community.[[/highlight]] In addition, there would be some financial resources available since we have a yearly school wide fundraiser and a very generous community.

Again, I feel Farmwell Station Middle School would be an excellent KidSat participating school and hope you will consider our application. If further information needs to be provided, please do hesitate to contact me at 703-771-6491. Again, thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
[[signature]]
Francis R. Fera
Principal