A Great Umbrella! (Not quite what you think it means...)

I feel fortunate today to announce that Higher Orbits has an umbrella to thank for helping us out...
Now that may sound a little odd to you that I am thankful for an umbrella (especially given that it's not raining!) but let me explain...

There is a wonderful group in California called EEG (a non-profit tax exempt educational foundation that has been in existence for 42 years) that is an "incubator" for similar minded non-profits. Since the task of getting 501c3 status is an arduous one and it takes quite a bit of time, this group helps out those in need in a variety of ways. They've kindly offered guidance on a variety of topics, which are very important but I won't bore you with, but there's something else they do that is much more important...

By being under their umbrella it helps me with donations in the immediate timeframe. Why? Well let me explain. You can make a donation to Higher Orbits TODAY and the check can be written to Higher Orbits. Higher Orbits will happily take that donation and put it to very good use. But since Higher Orbits is still awaiting it's tax-exempt 501c3 status (even though it's a non-profit, the actual IRS process for the tax exemption takes a year or 2!) you might not be able to claim it as a tax "benefit" for 2014 if the status doesn't come through this year. Whenever the status comes through you can retroactively claim it however. (Confused? Sorry!) Now how EEG is helpful.... if you're worried about your donation DEFINITELY being applied to this years taxes (as a company who might be willing to write a big check might be) you can make your check out to EEG but send it to Higher Orbits. They will accept donations on behalf of Higher Orbits and will then give Higher Orbits the money with only a few % taken out for administration costs.  This definitely helps us to be able to go out and solicit even larger donations so that we can provide even more scholarships and programs to deserving students!

So - you want to donate? THANK YOU!
You can write your check to Higher Orbits or EEG (based on what you've read in the paragraph above) and mail it to:
Higher Orbits
Attn: Michelle Ham
32 Upshur Rd
Annapolis, MD 21402

I can promise you that your donation will be used to support some very worthy programs including Mission Discovery (www.mission-discovery.info) for some incredible and deserving students!

A great big huge THANK YOU to EEG for taking Higher Orbits under their umbrella and providing such wonderful support.

P.S. Right now Higher Orbits can only take checks but I'm working on taking credit cards soon and will let you know as soon as we get that sorted out!

Women In Aviation

What a treat it was to get to attend the 25th annual Women in Aviation Conference at Disney in Orlando. This conference is always an amazing gathering of so many fantastic women! I am honored to have been part of it!

The first time I ever got to attend the Women in Aviation conference, it was as a result of a scholarship. I'm pretty sure the year was 2002 and it was in Reno. Since that initial conference I have been to 2 others before this one. I hope to make it a more regular occurrence to attend!

This year I feel fortunate that I not only got to attend the conference, but I also had the opportunity to exhibit and tell so many great people about Higher Orbits & ISSET and that I got to spread the good word about Mission Discovery!

Since I have been fortunate that throughout my life there have been people (individuals and companies) kind enough to offer scholarships to various things that I was interested in and wouldn't have been able to afford otherwise, I was extremely happy to be able to offer a scholarship to any Mission Discovery through the Women in Aviation Scholarship program.

At the conference we got the idea to solicit donations $1 at a time (because that's the kind of grass roots effort we are!) to fund a scholarship for a woman (of high school or university/college age) to attend any Mission Discovery. The idea was for this scholarship to be funded solely on the kind donations of the Women in Aviation Conference attendees. Unfortunately we got the idea a little late so while some individuals were happy to donate more than the $1 requested, we only made it halfway to our goal of $500 (which is a full scholarship).... here's where you might come in :) Did you attend the conference and not get a chance to stop by and make a donation? Well here's your chance!! Help us reach our goal of funding 1 woman who is interested in STEM to attend Mission Discovery based on the kindness of donations from WAI Conference attendees. Every dollar counts! You can make your check out to Mission Discovery and mail it to

Mission Discovery 

Attn: Michelle Ham 

32 Upshur Rd 

Annapolis, MD 21402

Make sure to put WAI in the notes section so we know to be sure to apply it to this special scholarship specifically.

Thank you so much for your support!!

Higher Orbits Logo

Well this blog is really a reaching out for a bit of help...

Still working on getting a logo for Higher Orbits and I have some great ideas from some amazing artists. Before I fully select a path of one to work with I wanted to ask all of you for your ideas... Don't worry I am not asking for you to actually create a logo, I am asking you to share some words of ideas/thoughts/expectations with me... If you don't mind of course :)

So here are a few questions and if you were so inclined to do so I'd love your answers/feedback :)

Remembering that Higher Orbits is a non-profit that uses space to excite students about Science Technology, Engineering, Math and also Leadership and Teamwork...

Remembering that Higher Orbits will be targeting (mainly) high school and college/university students... (That's not to say that we won't do things with younger students they just aren't the main demographic)... But also Higher Orbits will be reaching out to Industry/Business for sponsorships...

• What kind of logo comes to mind for you? What are the elements of it?
• What colors are used in the logo?
• Does the logo include the full name Higher Orbits or is it just a picture logo?

These are some leading questions (for lack of a better way of putting it) to try and get you thinking. That said - if you have thoughts/ideas/comments that fall outside those questions please send them my way. 

Thanks to all who are interested in Higher Orbits!!!

I Introduce To You....

Cue the trumpets..... Or maybe a drumroll... Confetti Cannons perhaps?

Anyway - give me some pomp and circumstance in your mind as you get ready to read this next bit because I am SUPER excited about it....

It's is my great honor to introduce you to a new Non-Profit Organization that will use space to get students of all ages interested in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math....
I give you.....

Higher Orbits

I had many many many great suggestions from folks about names and many that I liked but I chose Higher Orbits for a wide variety of reasons some of which include the fact that some names that were suggested or I liked were already taken or Trademarked, some of the names ended up being a great acronym but a mouthful to explain (Ken reminded me how much it drives me crazy to have to spell out ISSET all the time), some names appealed to some of the demographic I need to target but not others etc etc. Bottom line is I was lucky to have so many great suggestions from so many great folks so...

THANK YOU! GRACIAS! MERCI! DANKE! SPASIBO! ARRIGATO! MAHAL! XIE XIE!

Thank you all for being so wonderful and helping me with suggestions or taking my surveys to see what names you like or just being a sounding board when I started rambling about my ideas. Thank you so very much. I appreciate it more than words can express.

I would be remiss to not give an extra special Thank You shout-out to a very special gal who does marketing and branding for a living and was so enthusiastic in her help with finalizing the name. A HUGE Thank you to Lisa Witzig from Ideen LLC. I can whole heartedly endorse that if you need some help with marketing branding, naming etc. Lisa absolutely should be your go-to-gal! Check out her webpage at http://www.ideen-llc.com

I still have a lot of work to do.....

• Lots of paperwork to get my official IRS non-profit status (I won't bore you with the details but the basics is there's a general legal part to becoming a non-profit and then there's the IRS side... the IRS side apparently takes ages... but I'm ready to get to work on that!)
• Logo - Luckily I have some amazingly talents friends who have given me some great ideas and now I just have to decide what exactly I want to have represent Higher Orbits for all entirety (no pressure to make the "right" choice or anything!)
• Website! I've secured the domain and put a lame Coming Soon page but will be working on getting that really functional soon! Bookmark www.higherorbits.org to check back there periodically
• Fundraising! I have some amazing ideas of ways to fundraise to provide scholarships to individuals for events like Mission Discovery and I can't wait to get started on those. I know how life changing it was for me when I received a scholarship to go to Space Camp so I can't wait to return that "favor" to some students!
• And much much more but I'll stop rambling for now :)

I will still be doing all the same work with ISSET but now Higher Orbits will become a partner to ISSET and Higher Orbits will have additional things outside of ISSET as well. (Yeah I wasn't busy enough you know how all I do is sit around and watch TV and eat bon bons. LOL!)

For now you can start following Higher Orbits on Twitter if you want @HigherOrbits

And you may have noticed this is a separate blog than my personal blog - this will be a Higher Orbits official blog so perhaps sign-up to follow this blog too :)

And I promise to keep you all posted as things progress..... as you might be able to tell I am REALLY REALLY excited!!! 

Here's to Higher Orbits!!!