Students Take Up The Cause To Preserve Horn Antenna In Holmdel

HOLMDEL, NJ — Some of the youngest residents of the township have now added their voices to those advocating for the preservation of the historic Horn antenna on Crawford Hill.

Students from Indian Hill School, grades 4 to 6, attended the Township Committee meeting Tuesday night to present a petition with 200 student signatures, calling for the preservation of the antenna used in Nobel Prize-winning research in the 1970s.

The Horn antenna has been designated a National Historic Landmark. And the two students who spoke at the meeting said they hope the Crawford Hill site can be preserved as a park and educational center.

The Township Committee is in negotiations with the owner of the 43-acre property on Holmdel Road, Mayor DJ Luccarelli noted at one point of the meeting, so he said the committee could not discuss the site in detail.

But he and all the committee members and experts at the dais welcomed the students with encouraging smiles and a friendly invitation to speak.

The presentation was a lesson not only in science, but in democracy at work.

Students Thomas "TJ" Mann and Jess Burden addressed the committee with well-researched comments about the scientific significance of the Horn antenna.

The antenna was used in Bell Labs research that, through its reception of cosmic microwave background, supported the Big Bang Theory. One of the two scientists honored in 1978 for the research, Bob Wilson, still lives in town.

The students' comments were respectful, well-written - and delivered within the public comment time limit.

TJ Mann, in the 5th grade, was the student who sparked the petition. He said he chose the Horn antenna as part of a social studies research project at school. Jess Burden, 6th grade, is the Student Council vice president, and he also spoke in favor of preservation.

Burden said when Mann first approached the Student Council, "we immediately took action. . . . It is the pride of Holmdel," he said of the Horn antenna.

The petition became a popular discussion in the school, Mann told the committee, securing more than 200 signatures.

The Horn antenna deserves to be saved for many reasons, Mann said, including so "new generations of students can learn and see the Horn antenna. It would be a great spot for Holmdel students to go on a field trip to learn about science, history and technology."

You can see a video of the students' presentation on the Township Committee meeting video here, at about minute 25.

Karen Bennett, the 5th-grade teacher from Indian Hill School who sparked Mann's interest in the Horn antenna with the original social studies project, also attended the meeting to support her students.

"It was amazing to see the students take (the project) out of the classroom," said Bennett, who teaches math and social studies.

She said the "Holmdel Historians" concept asks students to research Holmdel's many historic sites on the township website and then focus on one subject - the Horn antenna, in TJ's case.

Bennett said once students learned about the movement to preserve the antenna, they took the initiative to plan the petition and create the presentation before the Township Committee.

Michelle Mann, TJ's mother, is herself a teacher and said her son really was not aware of the Horn antenna until he tackled the school research project.

"I'm just so proud how he developed such an interest and was motivated enough to take it a step further," she said, referring to the petition drive.

The students' comments at the meeting were followed by those of several adults, many former Bell Labs employees, who added their support for preservation.

And a member of Citizens for Informed Land Use, one of the groups that initiated a petition now signed by nearly 7,000 people worldwide, said she was glad to see young people involved in the issue.

"Kids have their own sense of ownership," said Jennifer Ashkar of Citizens for Informed Land Use.