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Dreaming big and feeding those dreams on a love of learning is something Hix has taught everywhere he goes. In the late 70s and early 80s, he made an impression on student Joe Thordsen\u2014one he still recalls today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMr. Hix taught us to love music and to strive for excellence as band members. He also taught me to move forward and mature as a person. As a result, I\u2019m a better person and a better musician. I have a love of music he bestowed on me to this day,\u201d said Thordsen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In <\/em>1979, Hix taught computer classes and band in Bedford County. Around 1982, he went on to teach computer science at Motlow State Community College before going to work with NASA. Hix returned to Bedford County in the early 2000s with an eye on retirement and the fulfillment of the second part of his dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He retired in 2015 and said, \u201cI have the best retirement hobby ever. I target schools that remind me of where I grew up. Since I purchased my first planetarium, over 72,000 students and teachers have entered my planetarium. My goal is not to turn students into astronomers but to excite students about learning in general. They need to see that the deeper you dig into learning a subject, the more interesting it becomes. Also, I want students to embrace the concept of being science literate. Each year, I visit approximately 75 schools with the help of my wife, Jan, who is a retired classroom teacher. The greatest payment is when a student tells me, \u2018this was the greatest school day ever.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n His retirement work has gained national recognition. On November 19, 2022, in Burlingame, California, Hix was awarded the Las Cumbres Amateur Outreach Award for his outstanding educational outreach programs to K-12 students and the interested lay public, making it the top program in the nation for astronomy outreach. The award is presented by the Astronomical Society of the Pacific, the governing body of professional astronomers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n He is the CEO of TeachSTEM LLC, an organization that conducts STEM outreach to rural schools, and was recently selected as the number one STEM teacher in the nation by the Space Foundation. He currently serves as NASA\u2019s Solar System Ambassador for our country and is an advisor to many education-related programs. His work even stretches globally. He was the 2019-2020 Education Ambassador to Chile, conducting research at some of the world\u2019s largest observatories and working with students and parents across Chile.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Not bad for a little boy in love with the night sky and the idea of our nation going to the moon, huh? Even better for rural students and communities with an eye on the sky! GN<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA retiree Billy Hix’s goal is not to turn students into astronomers but to excite students about learning in general.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":9862,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9858","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-feature"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/goodnewsmags.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/DSC_7732-1024x683.jpg\")