Wisconsin STEM shuttle program marks 20 years of taking science on the road
The STEM Shuttle, created by retired Wausau teacher Sharon Ryan, is marking its 20th year traveling to schools across Wisconsin. The program grew out of Dream Flight Wausau, a 1990 project Ryan developed while teaching at John Marshall Elementary School in the Wausau School District.
A Wausau-born education program that began with a discarded yellow school bus has grown into a statewide mobile classroom, giving generations of Wisconsin students a hands-on introduction to science, engineering and space exploration. The STEM Shuttle, created by retired Wausau teacher Sharon Ryan, is marking its 20th year traveling to schools across Wisconsin. The program grew out of Dream Flight Wausau, a 1990 project Ryan developed while teaching at John Marshall Elementary School in the Wausau School District. The crew of the inaugural 1990 mission of Dream Flight in Wausau. Photo courtesy of Nick RyanUnderstanding Wisconsin, Together. WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” newsletter keeps you connected to the state you love without feeling overwhelmed. No paywall. No agenda. No corporate filter. Andi Rubino, left, wears a uniform from the 1990 launch of Dream Flight during a May 2026 STEM Shuttle presentation in Lodi. Sharon Ryan, right, led the instruction. Photo courtesy of Nick RyanRyan said the idea was rooted in a simple belief: Students learn more deeply when they can step inside the lesson. “Put it in the hands of your students and wish them well,” Ryan said. The original Dream Flight program transformed a school bus into a space shuttle and built a schoolwide curriculum around it. Students took on roles as astronauts, reporters, doctors, radio operators and mission control staff. Parents, grandparents and volunteers helped make flight suits and support the effort. The initiative ran for 10 years in Wausau schools. After the district program ended, Ryan continued the concept through theDream Flight USA Foundation. Since 2005, theSTEM Shuttlehas used a converted motor coach to bring science, technology, engineering and math lessons to middle school and upper elementary students. The shuttle typicallyvisits schoolsfor one to three days at a time. The program now has its own generational history. During a spring visit to Lodi Elementary School, the father of two students was recognized as one of the original Dream Flight crew members from 1990. His wife, who works at the school, wore the same uniform he wore decades earlier. Teachers saythe programdoes more than teach science concepts. “Through trial and error, students learned that making mistakes is a stepping stone to discovery, rather than a failure,”teachers in the Mellen School District wroteafter a spring visit. Additional stops are planned throughout Wisconsin this fall. The following interview has been edited for brevity and clarity. Shereen Siewert:Dream Flight Wausau began in 1990 with a discarded yellow school bus that was transformed into a space shuttle. I still remember that vividly. As a classroom teacher at the time, how did that ambitious idea first take shape for you?Sharon Ryan:As a teacher, I had a couple of different ideas, and I always felt that when we taught our lessons, we didn’t always give students a chance to experience them. I was watching the Super Bowl, actually, and that inspired me in a way. I thought, look at these guys. They’re running around like kids. They won the Super Bowl, and they practiced and practiced. There’s spring training, and they keep moving on and moving on, and finally they have this big celebration because they won something. Why can’t we celebrate education like that?So I talked to the students. I said, what would be a unit you would be interested in? And they said space. The purpose was to get them on the shuttle. They were at that age where they were thinking about what they might like to be. The community came together, and all of us became sixth graders for a week. We had a great time. We were so isolated before that — schools were here and the community was there — but we all came together. The students trained in different occupations. They became news reporters. They worked in TV. They were doctors, geologists, meteorologists and technicians. Other students who weren’t on the shuttle loved being in the classroom. We turned all our schools into planets. They decorated their whole school as a planet. They trained with travel agents, so they made little brochures that said, “Welcome to the moon” or “Welcome to Mars,” or whatever planet it was. They had to decorate it, and then we sat down and they explained all the things about that planet. That’s how we learned about our solar system. We would call into the planetarium, and students there would answer questions. Everybody became involved, and it was a really neat experience. We did that for 10 years. SS:How did things change after that first 10 years?SR:I was looking to go in a different direction. The district was looking for a direction, too, and we parted ways. We just had different ideas. I wanted to move on to the International Space Station. With the International Space Station, they do all kinds of neat lessons on science, technology, math and engineering. We went on to involve other schools throughout Wisconsin. We went to the Milwaukee convention and got ourselves known there. We went toEAAand presented our International Space Station program. From there, it just developed. Schools started calling. We had our website and other information out there, and there was a lot of interest. What we did was offer lessons in science, technology, engineering and math. We did lessons on the ozone, different types of energy, and one of the latest ones we have is on medicine. We have science, technology, engineering and math, but we should have medicine, too. I was presenting to a school, and there was an elderly gentleman there. When I was talking about medicine, he raised his hand and said, “I had that treatment. When I went in, I had three months to live. I now have 30 years to live to see my granddaughter get married. ” And he explained to the students how that medicine worked. Those are the kinds of things the kids were very interested in. They said, “Wow, that’s really neat. ” And I said, maybe some of you would like to be doctors. Or when we did the robotic arm, maybe some of you would like to go into robotics or become engineers. We had students build an arch, and a lot of them said, “I didn’t know what an engineer really does. ”Another time, during a shuttle unit, we presented a lesson where students were building a bridge. They had to put different weights on it, and it had to support the weight. I was watching one boy, and he was really good. He would tell the other students, “Move it just a notch,” and then it was balanced. At the end, I said, “Wow, you finished that so fast. I’m amazed. ” And he said, “I really enjoyed this. I didn’t know this is what engineers do. ” I said yes, they test things to make sure they can support weight. You start with the lowest weight and move up. SS:What have you personally watched students discover about themselves during one of these 50-minute missions?SR:When we were at the Milwaukee convention, a parent was there, and she said, “I just want to share this. You went to my son’s school probably seven years ago. He came home, and he was entering high school, and he said, ‘Mom, I think I know what I’d like to be. ’”She said, “What?”He said, “An engineer. I did something on that shuttle today, and I really enjoyed it. ”She told me he went on to become an engineer. So you’re introducing kids at this age to what’s out there. You’re telling them, don’t be afraid. Go ahead and try it. We succeed when our students succeed. When we see them succeeding, then we know we’re getting the job done. We’re inspiring them to go on and make the world a better place. SS:What do you think it is about space exploration that is such a powerful hook to get students interested and participating?SR:There’s a mystery about it for them. They can get their hands on so many other things, but space is far away. It’s something they wonder about, and that excites them. It’s something beyond here, and they would like to be a part of it. SS:The STEM shuttle is celebrating its 20th year, but your overall journey with this concept spans much longer than that. Looking back, is there something that has surprised you about its lasting impact on generations of Wisconsin students?SR:Yes — that it went this far. TranscriptExpandCollapseTranscript Terms of UseTranscripts are provided for accessibility and convenience and may be created using a mix of automated tools and human review. While we strive for accuracy, transcripts may contain errors or omissions and are provided "as is" without warranties of any kind. The audio version is the official record of WPR programming. All transcripts are owned by WPR and protected by U. S. and international copyright law. They are provided for personal, non-commercial use only. You may not reproduce, modify, distribute, or use transcripts for public or commercial purposes without prior written permission from WPR. For permissions, contactlistener@wpr. org. From our bureau in Wausau, this is Morning Edition on WPR News. I’m Shireen Siewert. A Wausau-based nonprofit is helping students across Wisconsin explore science, technology, engineering, and math inside a mobile classroom built around space exploration. The Dream Flight USA Foundation STEM shuttle brings hands-on learning to schools, giving students a chance to work through challenges tied to space, medicine, and problem-solving. Sharon Ryan first launched this vision decades ago as a Wausau Elementary School teacher. She joins us today. Welcome, Sharon. Thank you. Glad to be here. Dream Flight Wausau began in 1990 with a discarded yellow school bus that was transformed into a space shuttle. I still remember that vividly. As a classroom teacher at the time, how did that ambitious idea first take shape for you?As a teacher, I had a couple different ideas. And I always felt that when we taught our lessons, we never gave them a chance to experience it. And it’s time to put the lessons in the hands of your students and wish them well. I was watching the Super Bowl, actually, that inspired me in a way, because I thought, look at these guys, they’re running around like kids. They won the Super Bowl and they practice, they practice. spring training, and they keep moving on and moving on. And finally, they have this big celebration that they want something. Why can’t we celebrate education like that? So I decided, I talked to the students. I said, what would be a unit you would be interested in? And they said space. And the purpose was to get them on the shuttle. In other words, they’re at that age where they’re thinking what they would like to be. And the community came together and we became sixth graders, all of us for a week and had a great time. And it wasn’t, we were so isolated and it wasn’t schools are here in community, but we all came together. And then the students crane at different occupations. They became news reporters, TV. They were doctors, geologists, meteorologists. technicians, other students that weren’t on the show loved being in the classroom. And we turned all our schools into planets. And they decorated their whole school as a planet. And they trained with travel agents. So they made little brochures and said, welcome to the moon or welcome to Mars, whatever planet it was. And then they had to decorate it, and we sat down and they explained to us all the things about that planet. And that’s how we learned about our solar system. We would call into the planetarium. There were students there would answer questions. Just everybody became involved, and it was a really neat experience. And then we did that for 10 years. Ben, how did things change after that first 10 years?I was looking to go in a different direction. And the district was looking for a direction, and we parted ways. We just had different ideas. And I wanted to go on to the International Space Station. In the International Space Station, they did all kinds of neat lessons on science, technology, math, and engineering. We went on to involve other schools throughout Wisconsin. We went to the Milwaukee Convention. We got ourselves known there. And we went to the EAA and we were presenting our space International Space Station. And then this just developed and school started calling. We had our website and we had other information out and there was big interest in that. And so we went out and what we did is we did lessons on science, technology, engineering and math. And we went on to lessons on the ozone. We went on different types of energy. And one of the latest ones we got is on medicine. because we have science, technology, engineering, and math, but we should have medicine. I was presenting to a school, and there was an elderly gentleman there. And when I was talking about this medicine, he raised his hand. He said, I had that treatment. And when I went in, I had three months to live. I now have 30 years to live to see my granddaughter get married. And he explained to them how that medicine worked. It’s these kinds of things that the kids were very interested and they said, wow, that’s really neat. And I said, maybe some of you would like to be doctors or some of you would like to be, when we did the robotic arm, going to robotics or engineers, you built this nice arch. And I said, and a lot of them said, I didn’t know what an engineer really does. And as a student, they were, had a unit on the shuttle. It was, we presented, it was a road and they were building a bridge and they had to put different weights on and it had to support the weight. And I was watching a boy and he was, he’s really good. And he would tell the students, move it just a notch and it was balanced. And at the end I said, wow, you finished that so fast. I’m amazed. And he said, I really enjoyed this. And I didn’t know that this is what engineers do. And I said, Yes, when they’re testing to make sure it’s gonna support weight. And then you start with the lowest and move up. What have you personally watched students discover about themselves during one of these 50-minute missions?A parent, when we were at the Milwaukee Convention, was there. She said, I just wanna share this. You went to my son’s school probably seven years ago. And he came home, he was entering high school, and said, Mom, I think I know what I’d like to be. And she said, what? He said, an engineer. I did something on that shuttle today, and I really enjoyed it. He went on, she said, to be an engineer. So you’re introducing kids at this age to. To think about what’s out there and don’t be afraid. Go ahead and try it. We succeed when our students succeed and we see them succeeding. Then we know we’re we’re don’t getting a job done that we’re doing and inspiring them to go on and make the world a better place. What do you think it is about space exploration that is such a powerful hook to get these students interested and participating?There’s a mystery about it to them. They can get their hands on so many other things. But this is far away, and it’s something you wonder about, and that excites them. That’s something that is beyond here, and they would like to be a part of that. The STEM Turtle is celebrating its 20th year, but your overall journey with this concept spans much longer than that. Looking back, is there something that has surprised you about its lasting impact on generations of Wisconsin students?Yes, right there, that it went that far. I know when I first did it, I thought I was going to do it for a year. And I was finishing my master’s degree, so I thought, hey, here’s a way that we can experience learning. And like I said, put it in the hands of your students and wish them well. Sharon, thank you so much for talking about the Dream Flight USA Foundation STEM Shuttle. Really appreciate you talking with us today. Thank you, and I was happy to be a part of your program. If you have an idea about something in central Wisconsin you think we should talk about on Morning Edition, send it to us. Our e-mail address is central at wpr. org. And remember, you can always find great stories from WPR News, including this one online at wpr. org. I’m Shireen Siewert from our bureau in Wausau. This is Morning Edition on WPR News.