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There can be more to a high school "reunion" than just sports, cocktails and dinner dances. ALJ will always be a significant part of what we are or, more precisely, what each of us has become. Alumni are a invaluable "life asset" that can be utilized to the best interests of current undergraduates,e.g. paying it back. The Friday of Reunion Weekend found most of us at the Hyatt Golf Course, checking into hotels or visiting briefly with our friends, relatives or classmates. That is most ,except Len Baumel. Seizing the initiative back home in Austin, Len had made prior arrangements to meet with ALJ science and math students that afternoon. A summary of that classroom experience and Len's unique bio follow. The Class of 1959 applauds Len Baumel for "paying it back!"
Len reports..........
"As for my experience on October 9, 2009,with the current high school students, I can only say that when you get 40 kids willing to listen to an old geezer talk about himself, it doesn’t get any better than that.
Based on input from the guidance counselor, Ellen Zamboni, I started talking about college, and tried to get across the idea that you don’t need an Ivy League school to get a meaningful college education. I emphasized that math and science represents the language of technology, and that while cutting edge science is changing, the basics remain constant, and need to be learned. I also reminded them that the technology that is current when they start college will most assuredly change by the time they graduate. They need to learn how to learn, not just the current technology, but whatever new comes along. Their math and science is the foundation on which to build.
I then spoke about how I got my first job with Boeing, in Huntsville, Alabama and made a point of being willing to relocate. You must go where the work is. Being flexible is the key to advancement. I also discussed my change of job from Boeing to Lockheed in Houston, being able to work on the Apollo Command and Service Modules and the Lunar Module allowing my involvement for the whole lunar mission rather than just the first few minutes of the Saturn V booster stages firing. I also stressed the importance of not burning your bridges when moving from one employer to another. It is a small community and you will very likely encounter the same people and it is better not to have told them off when leaving your previous employer.
I spent time talking about the Apollo program, and the sense of national purpose that directed that effort. The trade-off between building a space station first, and then moving on to the moon verses the lunar orbit rendezvous approach that was ultimately taken. In spite of warnings about the short attention span of these students, I found them very receptive to the presentation. In fact several students gathered around asking additional questions after the allotted 45 minutes was over. I was able to keep their attention for an additional half hour of conversation.
I thought that our alma mater was in good hands with these students. I thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity of sharing my experiences with them, and would encourage others to share their experiences as well. I just hope the students enjoyed it as much as I did."
Len Baumel Bio
After graduation I entered Cornell University, where I majored in Engineering Physics. In July of 1963 I married Gladys Leff of Roselle, and we lived in Ithaca, New York until I graduated. My first job was with Boeing in Huntsville, Alabama, working on the Saturn V moon rocket. After a little over a year I moved to Houston with Lockheed and began work on the Apollo Command Module and Lunar Module guidance and navigation computer software. In 1972 we moved back to Clark, where I worked in the family business. That only lasted a year and a half before my former boss at Lockheed called and convinced me to come back to Houston to work on the Space Shuttle functional simulator. By then our son Daniel (born in Texas) was 2 years old. In 1978, I transferred to Lockheed Missiles and Space Company in Sunnyvale, California, where I worked on the software for the Space Telescope (later renamed the Hubble Space Telescope). By then we had our second son, Steve, who was also born in Texas. In 1982 I transferred back to Texas with the Lockheed Austin Division which was just being formed. There I worked with advanced programs and later the SoftwareTechnologyCenter, and then on several classified programs. By 1996 my older son Dan had completed a five year program at the University of Texas and was a CPA in Houston. My younger son Steve had just started at UT when Lockheed, which was now Lockheed Martin, shut down the plant in Austin, and my program was relocated to the Denver area where I stayed until I retired in 2001. A year later we returned to Austin which had become our home. I now have both kids living and working in Houston, and three grandchildren, Jeffrey (6), and Morgan (4) from our older son Dan, and Erin (almost 2) from Steve. In retirement my wife and I have taken up ushering for the LongCenter for the Performing Arts in Austin, the University of Texas Performing Arts Center, and for the Austin Symphony Orchestra. I am also writing for the Long Center Usher newsletter, and have served as an election judge for several elections here in TravisCounty.
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