CLIFTON — For Sandra Giordano, failure was not an option.

The longtime educator had already lost her school — she wasn’t about to lose a rare chance to have her students talk to an astronaut.

After learning the deflating news that Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Wayne would permanently closeGiordano, his principal at the time, came up with a novel way to save the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

The Catholic school, which served pre-K through eighth grade, planned to contact a crew member on International Space Station using a ham radio in September. However, the Diocese of Paterson announced in May that the school would close due to low enrollment and a widening budget gap.

Giordano, now the principal of St. Catherine of Siena School in Cedar Grove, reorganized the Ham Radio Club at her former school and, with the help of some retired teachers, created a new club called Heart of ARC.

That group, which still needed a physical location to host the radio broadcast, collaborated Clifton Arts Center & Sculpture Park to happen.

“I’m one of those people who doesn’t take no for an answer,” Giordano said.

The nonprofit organization that would facilitate the radio broadcast, Radio amateur on the International Space Stationor ARISS, was initially reluctant to let the project move forward with Heart of ARC because the group is not actually an official entity.

And there was something else.

Each radio broadcast, which lasts 10 minutes, costs about $30,000. ARISS, which depends heavily on in-kind donations from NASA and other space agencies around the world, foots the entire bill.

“We want to make sure the people we’re giving this gift to are in it for the right reasons,” said Tanya Anderson, director of education for ARISS-USA. “We want to have the biggest impact on students as possible.”

The ARISS organization is divided into five regions, corresponding to the five space agencies with a presence on the space station: Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and the US

According to the ARISS website, amateur radio has been used by American astronauts for 40 years.

The Shuttle Amateur Radio Experiment, or SAREX, was the precursor to ARISS. Beginning in November 1983, it allowed students to talk to astronauts aboard the space shuttle Columbia as it flew around Earth at 27,000 mph.

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Heart of ARC, led by Giordano, rewrote the lengthy proposal needed for ARISS to consider granting a radio transmission with the space station. It was approved, and the group is now scheduled to make contact with an astronaut at the Clifton Arts Center in February.

“Things happen for a reason”

An art gallery may seem an unlikely setting for such a science project, but its director, Roxanne Cammilleri, said it was as suitable a place as any.

The “common denominator” between art and space exploration is discovery, Cammilleri said.

The studio, which is set to celebrate its 25th anniversary in January, is housed in a pair of renovated barns on the grounds of the city’s municipal complex. They were built many decades ago as a quarantine station for foreign animals, including exotic birds, musk oxen and racehorses.

In July, the art gallery hosted a space-themed workshop supported by Heart of ARC.

Giordano and Donna Roberto, a former teacher at Wayne School, taught the students about the phases of the moon. Participants used Oreos to illustrate the eight different phases by scraping — or eating — the cream on the cookie halves.

Giordano and Roberto will soon be running a hydroponic gardening workshop.

Damaris Herrera is another former Wayne School teacher participating in Heart of ARC. Being independent has given the group the freedom to expand, she said, noting there are “a lot of limitations” under diocesan control.

“I’m a woman of faith and things happen for a reason,” Herrera said. “While we were devastated that the school closed, it may actually be a stepping stone to something bigger.”

Anderson, ARISS-USA’s director of education, said the nonprofit facilitates about 80 radio broadcasts a year. Most are done with schools.

Communications don’t last more than 10 minutes, Anderson said, because they can only be made when the space station and its seven-member crew are above the host schools — or, in this case, the art gallery.

During this short window, participating students speak with an astronaut in a question-and-answer format. Questions, Anderson said, must be accepted by NASA before the event.

Anderson, a former teacher from Lisle, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago, hosted a radio broadcast with her students 10 years ago. “When that astronaut’s voice comes back on the radio,” she said, “and they understand that this person is flying 250 miles above them — it’s very impactful.”

Now Giordano is taking the next generation on a cosmic mission.

Heart of ARC, she said, maintained the remnants of her former school in Wayne and includes students from her new school in Cedar Grove. It also encompasses the community at large, she said, because the art gallery has a wide network of supporters.

“We want to inspire our kids,” Giordano said. “If not to become astronauts, then aim to become great people with great minds.”

Philip DeVencentis is a local reporter for NorthJersey.com. For unlimited access to the most important news from your local community, please subscribe or activate your digital account today.

Email: [email protected]

What do astronauts eat?

That question will be answered at 4:30 p.m. on Nov. 6 during a workshop at the Clifton Arts Center & Sculpture Park, 900 Clifton Ave. The class, for ages 7-12, will be led by Heart of ARC.

Participants will create gardens using recyclable bottles and learn how to grow plants without soil. They will also taste candies and freeze-dried ice cream. The cost is $25 for city residents and $28 for non-residents.

To register, call the art gallery at 973-472-5499.

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Immaculate Heart of Mary School in Wayne resides in the club