Fort Collins High School graduate Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger will be the first Lambkin in space, and Clyde, a stuffed lamb in a handmade spacesuit, will be right there with her.
Metcalf-Lindenburger, a science teacher until she was accepted into NASA’s astronaut training program, wrote to school principal Mark Eversole requesting a “banner, pendant or stuffed Clyde” to take with her in March, when she flies on the space shuttle.
School staffers sprang into action, commissioning a banner with the school name and both the prancing and fierce versions of the fluffy Lambkin mascot, nicknamed Clyde.
Math and science department secretary Jeanne Miller is designing and sewing a gold lame’ spacesuit for one of the many stuffed lambs in cheerleading coach Kathy Johnson’s office. “There’s never been a Lambkin in space; I’m sure of it,” Johnson said.
In her e-mail request, Metcalf-Lindenburger said, “It would be my honor to represent the excellent staff and students of FCHS on orbit.” She also included a shout out to her calculus teacher and cross-country coach, Craig Luckasen, who is still teaching and coaching, and has stayed in touch with Metcalf-Lindenburger, who graduated from FCHS in 1993.
“She was an outstanding student and very involved in the school, a true positive influence and excellent leader,” Luckasen said. “I’m not surprised she has gotten to this point and is doing great things.”
Chemistry teacher Ron Jensen saw intelligence and ambition in her eyes. “I’ve just had a couple of kids like that over my 27 years as a teacher. I’ve been telling my kids she would probably be the next teacher in space — she told her students that her dream was to be an astronaut and they said, ‘Why don’t you, then?’ The only bad thing is those kids don’t have her as a teacher anymore.”
Opened 120 years ago, Fort Collins High prides itself on its traditions. “To have the distinction to say that our mascot, which is one of a kind, has been in outer space, this just adds to the history of the school,” assistant principal Rob Larson said.
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com
