Chris Laster

Chris Laster is an elementary school teacher at Richard B. Russell Elementary School in Smyrna, Georgia. He currently teaches remedial math to 4th and 5th grade students and is the coordinator of the Russell Space Center, a program that he created in 1998. Students in the Russell Space Center program train throughout the school year for a 27-hour simulated Space Shuttle mission that takes place near the end of the school year. He also created an elementary science lab program that served as a model for several other area schools. Chris has won several teaching awards including being selected to the USA Today All-Star Teaching Team in 2003, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) National Educator Achievement Award in 2003, and the Georgia Science Teacher of the Year in 2002. He is also a US Navy veteran and a registered radiologic technologist. Chris has his AS in Diagnostic Imaging, Wallace State College, a BS in Elementary Education, Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, and an MS Geoscience, Mississippi State University. His teaching experience includes1992-2005 Russell Elementary School, Smyrna, Georgia; 2009-2012 Crestline Elementary School, Hartselle, Alabama; and 2012-Present Russell Elementary School, Smyrna, Georgia.