A group of fourth graders watched intently from a seating area within a new Salt Lake playground as Backman Elementary School Principal Matthew Teitter pulled out a photo to show them.

He held a portrait of a young Neil deGrasse Tyson, as the principal retold the renowned astrophysicist’s origin, whose interest in the field began with a visit to a planetarium when he was about the same age as the fourth graders are now. Perhaps that’s the field these children will go into, but Teitter says it’s possible that a new open space and playground near the banks of the Jordan River, just west of the school, may inspire them to go into other important science fields.

“What I hope is ... that at least some of you are inspired and feel like you have been called by the universe or the ecosystem righ

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