Buzz Aldrin School for Recognition

Mount Hebron School could become Buzz Aldrin School.

Look out, Montclair; Buzz Aldrin could reinvent your beloved school! The rather new “Man on the Moon” committee took action on Tuesday, Feb. 24 and proposed the Montclair Board of Education renames Mount Hebron School. If the request is approved, the new name will honor the moonwalker – expect a title that is something along the lines of Buzz Aldrin School.

According to reports, the proposal proves that Aldrin graced the Montclair School District as they have the “proud legacy of having educated this Doctor of Science and Astronautics and one of the greatest explorers in human history.” The greatest explorer indeed! On July 20, 1969 Buzz Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon.

Buzz Aldrin was born in Glen Ridge, N.J. and graduated from Montclair High School in 1947 right on Chestnut Street, and has since built quite the resume. After all, he and Armstrong led Apollo 11 and placed the American flag on the moon. But that was a long time coming; he received a degree from the US Military Academy at West Point in mechanical engineering and went on to join the air force. Aldrin attended MIT after his war days and studied diligently to earn his Doctorate of Science in Astronautics at MIT. In 1963, Aldrin was selected by NASA to join the third group of astronauts.

Here are some fun facts about the 85 year old – what he did at age 72 will shock you:

1. Buzz’s mother is named Marion Moon.
2. Neil Armstrong took the famous visor photo of Aldrin on the moon.
3. Disney’s great Buzz Lightyear was of course titled after Buzz Aldrin himself.
4. The astronaut also inspires the VMA “moonman.”
5. Conspiracy theorist Bart Sibrel called Aldrin a “coward” and demanded he “swear on the Bible” to prove he walked on the moon, and 72-year-old Buzz Aldrin punched him square in the face.
6. The Hollywood Walk of Fame has four stars honoring Aldrin and his Apollo 11 crew.

The spaceman is already a world-renowned, influential and larger-than-life individual; we do not know what the final verdict will be in regards to renaming Mount Hebron School, but Montclair is lucky and proud to be home to the inimitable Buzz Aldrin.

  board of education, buzz aldrin, monclair, mount hebron high school