For the last several months, Rebeca Pereira and Rachel Wachman worked on a project honoring Christa McAuliffe’s life and legacy. Christa was a history teacher at Concord High School when she was chosen to ride aboard the Challenger space shuttle as part of NASA’s Teacher in Space program.

Her mission to teach live lessons from space was unfortunately an ill-fated one: 73 seconds after its launch in January of 1986, the Challenger exploded, killing its seven crew members.

Rather than dwell on what went wrong that day, they decided that as reporters for Christa’s hometown paper, it was their responsibility to continue playing a part in preserving her legacy.

Rebeca and Rachel spoke to more than three dozen sources and produced a special edition of the Monitor telling their stories. Rebeca visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to report on the organization’s Day of Remembrance for its fallen astronauts. Their walking tour of Concord was part of last week’s episode of the Monitor Weekly.

And to cap it all off, the Monitor hosted a panel with four very special guests at NHTI on Wednesday, January 28th — exactly 40 years after the Challenger disaster.

Joining us were Ricky Arnold, the educator astronaut who brought Christa’s lessons into space; Kris Coronis Jacques, one of Christa’s former students; Kathleen Young, the NHPBS documentarian who produced the short-film ‘Christa’; and Amber Woods, the archivist at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.

The Monitor is grateful for ConcordTV’s assistance with livestreaming our panel. It’s because of their help that we’re able to bring you this two-part special: the audio from our ‘Reach for the Stars’ panel, produced in collaboration with the Discovery Center.

To watch the panel in its entirety, visit ⁠https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TabKiVKoa5U⁠.

For the last several months, Rebeca Pereira and Rachel Wachman worked on a project honoring Christa McAuliffe’s life and legacy. Christa was a history teacher at Concord High School when she was chosen to ride aboard the Challenger space shuttle as part of NASA’s Teacher in Space program.

Her mission to teach live lessons from space was unfortunately an ill-fated one: 73 seconds after its launch in January of 1986, the Challenger exploded, killing its seven crew members.

Rather than dwell on what went wrong that day, they decided that as reporters for Christa’s hometown paper, it was their responsibility to continue playing a part in preserving her legacy.

Rebeca and Rachel spoke to more than three dozen sources and produced a special edition of the Monitor telling their stories. Rebeca visited NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to report on the organization’s Day of Remembrance for its fallen astronauts. Their walking tour of Concord was part of last week’s episode of the Monitor Weekly.

And to cap it all off, the Monitor hosted a panel with four very special guests at NHTI on Wednesday, January 28th — exactly 40 years after the Challenger disaster.

Joining us were Ricky Arnold, the educator astronaut who brought Christa’s lessons into space; Kris Coronis Jacques, one of Christa’s former students; Kathleen Young, the NHPBS documentarian who produced the short-film ‘Christa’; and Amber Woods, the archivist at the McAuliffe-Shepard Discovery Center.

The Monitor is grateful for ConcordTV’s assistance with livestreaming our panel. It’s because of their help that we’re able to bring you this two-part special: the audio from our ‘Reach for the Stars’ panel, produced in collaboration with the Discovery Center.

To watch the panel in its entirety, visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TabKiVKoa5U.

Her laugh was contagious. Her mission was electrifying. Her plans for the future were inspiring.

Christa McAuliffe was the perfect choice for the Teacher in Space program. She understood that she was an ordinary person bringing us all along on her extraordinary journey.

It was a responsibility she took to heart. Christa sought to document her experiences and share them with the American public, to make the Space Age relatable and to illuminate the vital importance of teachers everywhere. Christa believed in the power of education and motivated her students, both literally and metaphorically, to “reach for the stars.” She reached students in their despondency and social isolation and drew them out. She validated them as people.

Since the Challenger disaster in 1986, her story has been told and retold numerous times. This special project explores her legacy as a teacher, astronaut, pioneer woman and ordinary citizen. Here in Concord, 40 years later, we remember her especially as one of our own.

To read more from our series, visit www.concordmonitor.com/christas-legacy.

Thank you to the Concord Historical Society and John Gfoerer for providing access to archival footage captured by Concord Channel 12.

This episode was produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira. The theme music in this episode was produced by Lizzy McCormack. Find the Monitor on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at @ConcordMonitor.

This is an excerpt from The Monitor Weekly episode that will accompany our series, coming soon: 'Christa's Legacy: Concord's pioneer woman, the world's teacher.'

To read a transcript of Bob Hohler's 1986 column memorializing Christa McAuliffe, and to stay up-to-date on 'Christa's Legacy,' visit https://www.concordmonitor.com/christas-legacy/

This except was produced by Rebeca Pereira and includes music from contra-sigma through www.freesound.org.

At the Monitor, whenever we have questions about the mechanics of virtually any process, we turn to the Granite Geek, David Brooks, our science and technology writer. It turns out Dave has been writing about the logistics of Christmas, dispelling skeptics’ doubts about Saint Nick’s existence, for a while.

Between 1970 and 2015, the number of malls in North America grew over twice as fast as the population. As anchor stores began shuttering locations and customers turned to malls less and less, these behemoth shopping centers also had no option but to close.

In Concord, one location exemplifies this decline more than others: the Steeplegate Mall on Loudon Road.

Fifteen years ago, the Steeplegate Mall was the largest taxpayer in the city. Its assessed value approached $72 million — today, it is assessed at a fraction of that, only $12.6 million.

What happened?

City reporter Catherine McLaughlin and investigative reporter Sruthi Gopalakrishnan join us on this episode of the Monitor weekly to discuss.

The theme music in this episode was produced by Lizzy McCormack with additional music from Lo-Fi Beat by YellowTree on FreeSound.org.mp3

Engage with us! To submit a My Turn, send an email to letters@cmonitor.com with the submission in the body of the email. To submit a Letter to the Editor or to read more about the Monitor’s Opinion guidelines, visit concordmonitor.com/opinion.

Find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at @ConcordMonitor.

The Monitor Weekly is a Concord Monitor project produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira and Alexander Rapp.

On the first day of school this fall, students across New Hampshire experienced a revolutionary change to their education: the dawn of the bell-to-bell cell phone ban.

Students predicted the ban would either be met with widespread noncompliance or not enforced by teachers and administrators at all. Education reporter Jeremy Margolis joins the podcast this week to discuss how the phone ban has fared and the Monitor's new student reader advisory board.

Read Jeremy's reporting at https://www.concordmonitor.com/2025/11/24/new-hampshire-school-phone-ban-update/?preview_id=350647&preview_nonce=0745ffb7e5&preview=true&_thumbnail_id=337140.

The theme music in this episode was produced by Lizzy McCormack with additional music from Lo-Fi Beat by YellowTree on FreeSound.org.mp3

Engage with us! To submit a My Turn, send an email to letters@cmonitor.com with the submission in the body of the email. To submit a Letter to the Editor or to read more about the Monitor’s Opinion guidelines, visit concordmonitor.com/opinion.

Find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at @ConcordMonitor.

The Monitor Weekly is a Concord Monitor project produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira and Alexander Rapp.

City reporter Catherine McLaughlin and State House reporter Charlotte Matherly spearheaded the bulk of the Monitor's election coverage, bringing readers inside polling locations ahead of and on Election Day.

By and large, incumbents swept this municipal election, with Mayor Byron Champlin, school board member Cara Meeker and Councilors Fred Keach and Kris Schultz defeating challengers and maintaining their seats. But some newcomers, including first-time candidate Fisto Ndayishimiye, performed impressively, signaling residents' receptiveness to change.

The theme music in this episode was produced by Lizzy McCormack with additional music from Lo-Fi Beat by YellowTree on FreeSound.org.mp3

Engage with us! To submit a My Turn, send an email to letters@cmonitor.com with the submission in the body of the email. To submit a Letter to the Editor or to read more about the Monitor’s Opinion guidelines, visit concordmonitor.com/opinion.

Find us on Instagram, Facebook and TikTok at @ConcordMonitor.

The Monitor Weekly is a Concord Monitor project produced and edited by Rebeca Pereira and Alexander Rapp.