By: TONY MARKS
Associate Editor
The Summer Reading Program held at the main branch of the Evangeline Parish Library will close out this session with a bang as 16-year-old astronaut Alyssa Carson from Baton Rouge will be the special guest.
Suzy LeMoine, the Evangeline Parish outreach director, described Carson as “a remarkable young Louisianian.” LeMoine met Carson as part of her NASA outreach program. “She had to come up with a way to get the word out about the science program that science is alive and well as far as space travel, so she chose the library system,” LeMoine said.
“She visited us,” continued LeMoine. “I didn’t call her. She came on her own in her space suit and left some information. We called her after that to come back for our Book Fest last October. She and her dad Bert Carson came and spent the day with us at the library.”
According to LeMoine, Carson started in the space program by being invited to a space camp when she was four or five-years old. “At this point in her life now, she is part of the Mars Generation,” said LeMoine. “Netflix just put out a movie called The Mars Generation, and she is in that movie. She’s expected to be the first woman to arrive on Mars in 2033.”
Carson is returning to the main branch of the Evangeline Parish Library on Saturday, July 29 at 10:00 a.m. LeMoine said that there will be a meet-and-greet as well as a question-and-answer session. “She recently spoke to 700 kids in East Baton Rouge Parish, so I just want to give our kids the same opportunity,” she said. “I’d like people to connect with her in terms of I want them to follow her for the next 17 years. That’s why I want the kids to do this, and I want them to be inspired. She’s part of something very real that’s going to affect our future.”
“My target audience is teens, added LeMoine. “If our room can only hold 120 people, I hope it’s all teens and tweens. It’s just to get the word out so kids can say they met her in Ville Platte.”