A lesson in friendship: Framingham teacher was finalist for space mission
MetroWest Daily News
January 22, 2006by Julia Spitz
It comes up every now and then.
A student at the Media and Technology Charter High School in Boston reads about the Challenger space shuttle and notices something familiar.
"This Sposato guy. You know him?"
Yes, the principal knows him. Sees him every day in the mirror.
Back when he was a 38-year-old teacher at the Farley Middle School in Framingham, Charlie Sposato was in line for a ride on the shuttle.
He and Richard Methia of New Bedford were Massachusetts' finalists for the "teacher in space" mission.
More than 100 teachers across the country were picked to begin trainig. After a battery of physical and mental tests, candidates were eliminated.
"Then there were five or six. I wasn't one of the five or six," said Sposato.
Another teacher from Framingham was.
Christa Corrigan McAuliffe's life ended Jan. 28, 1986, when the shuttle was ripped apart as it lifted off.
Memories of her live on.
"There are lots of things that bring it back. Stories. Pictures. Comments. Seeing Christa's mother in the newspaper."
"Kellogg's cornflakes.
"One time when we were jogging, Christa said if she was selected, they'd have to buy a lot of cereal. I think it was Kellogg's cornflakes. She said it was all her husband knew how to cook."
Yes, she had a sense of humor. She had sensitivity, discipline and a host of other virtues, too.
"I think Christa was the best choice in so many ways. She had that special quality. It was obvious whenever you saw her.
"Christa did such a good job of honoring our profession, and, in the process, herself."
Sposato was supposed to be there for the launch.
"All the finalists were flown to Florida for the liftoff," he said. But after several delays, he decided to come back to Framingham South High School, where he'd recently started teaching. "I left the day before (the launch). I'd missed too many days of school."
He'd watch with his freshman English class instead.
Television networks decided to delay the launch broadcast until the noon newscasts, but "schools had it," Sposato said.
He remembers what the class was reading that day.
"We'd just started '2001: A Space Odyssey.'
"We had the TV on. One of the kids gasps. Then everything broke loose.
"The kids were very concerned about me and about Christa, and I was very concerned about my kids.
"I think the kids knew I was shaken. Some came up and hugged me. They had a lot of questions. How did this happen? Could there be survivors?
"I said I didn't know, but in your heart of hearts, you know it isn't probable. But you hope there are."
Making dreams come true
"There were three things I wanted to be as a child," said Sposato, who grew up in Kentucky and Rhode Island. "An astronaut, a teacher and a priest."
After graduating from Boston College, he came to Framingham, to the Marist Fathers Seminary on Pleasant Street.
As a seminarian, he got his start teaching at the Lyman Reformatory and Walpole State Prison.
"I found I was effective," he said, and realized teaching might be his primary calling in 1970.
"It was in the midst of the Vatican II reform. I loved the (religious) life. I loved my community. But there dogmatic and doctrinal issues I couldn't adhere to.
"I left the seminary and entered teaching at the Farley Middle School, which is now the Danforth Museum."
That was also the year he met Mary O'Connell and married her four months later. They celebrated their 35th anniversary last year.
He enjoyed teaching, enjoyed helping kids get back on track, making them think about the bigger picture.
One of the things he's particularly proud of is "an early resiliency program at Farley, the New Options program," he launched with then-Principal Mike Dineen and teacher Jim Dumas. "It was a school within a school" for students who hadn't found success in traditional ways.
"I said if it was the only thing I did as a teacher, it would have been very fruitful."
But there was something else still kicking around in his head, the dream that seemed unattainable.
In the early days of space travel, "the Apollo and Gemini series, you had to be a pilot and you needed to have perfect eyesight."
By the time the Teacher in Space program was announced, requirements had changed. You still had to be in good physical shape, but glasses were no longer a deal-breaker.
The man who ran marathons and played racquetball decided to give it a shot.
"We met a lot of our heroes" during NASA training in Florida and Washington, D.C. Harrison Schmitt, who landed on the moon in 1972, was among Sposato's favorites.
A run with McAuliffe also stands out.
"We were jogging at the Vietnam Memorial. We were in tears, talking about the people we'd lost."
Not long after that, he lost his good friend, the New Hampshire teacher who'd grown up in Framingham.
Life goes on
Sitting at a table next to the window at Panera Bread in Framingham earlier this month, he takes a moment to weight the question.
Were there moments of survivor's guilt?
"I don't know if I've experienced guilt. I've experienced, 'It could have been me.' I've experienced a deep sense of loss."
But "so many wonderful things have happened since then."
Granddaughters Bailey and Marin turn 2 this year.
"It's been fun to watch." Daughters Martha and Melissa "are great mothers."
He still works hard to keep fit.
"I usually go out in the morning, my wife and I, around 4:30, and do 2, 2 1/2 miles."
He still enjoys his role as a teacher.
"It's lighting a fire," he said. "It's a teacher's job to find the genius in each kid. Oftentimes it's the kid you least expect you affect."
And he's gone on to achieve a host of accolades. Massachusetts Teacher of the Year for 1990-91. This newspaper's Man of the Year in 1990. He co-founded the Resiliency for Life program at Framingham High School and the Community Service Learning Program. His 30-plus years as an educator include 10 at Framingham State College.
"I think what I'm most proud of is how many people have allowed me to enter their lives and how deeply they've allowed me to enter their lives."
He's also proud of the Media and Technology Charter High School he helped launch in 2000 and credits co-founders Mike Goldstein and Alan Safran and "every parent who brought their kids to our school" for the inner-city school's success.
"It's a wonderful place to be," he said, and, "The only school that outperforms us is Boston Latin."
Not that it was easy.
In the school's second year, a student was fatally shot on his way home.
"For what? A necklace?"
"I held him in my arms while he was dying."
There have been two make-or-break points for MATCH, Sposato said.
The first year, "there was an act of vandalism. A bathroom door was torn off." He told the 82 students if they left before someone came clean, they couldn't come back.
"The most popular kid in school" left. He wasn't the culprit. He wasn't allowed to return.
"They knew this crazy white man meant what he said."
The second came in December 2000, when "we saw 47 percent were failing."
He met with parents unaccustomed to seeing their children get bad grades, even though some students were reading at third-grade levels.
He asked them to pretend he was a physician.
"As a doctor, I can make her feel better for four years, but she'll still have the disease, or I can make her uncomfortable for four or five years, but she'll be cured. Which would you choose?"
They chose longterm gain, he said.
Worthwhile things don't come easy. Like the Teacher in Space Program.
"Was it worth it? I believe if Christa were asked, she'd say yes. As with learning, you have to reach beyond yourself. You have to take risks. Learning is a risky business."
Many in the original group of finalists have left the profession, Sposato said.
"Other opportunities came up."
But Idaho teacher Barbara Morgan, chosen to be McAuliffe's backup for the 1986 flight, stuck to the original goal. She was chosen to go to the international space station in 2004, before the mission wsa grounded by the 2003 Columbia shuttle accident.
Morgan's a lot like McAuliffe, said Sposato.
"There were a lot of similarities. Beauty, spunk, grace that came out in difficult situations."
Even after the Columbia disaster, Morgan told reporters she still wants to go into space.
Sposato understands.
Not that he's planning to take advantage of the Virgin Galactic rides scheduled to start in a few years.
"I don't think I have the money for that."
But what if he got a scholarship?
This time, there's no hesitation.
"Sure," he said.
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