Samara Mohammed, an 11th-grader at Lincoln High School, has never loved math.
But around noon Saturday at Marcus Theaters, where she, her third-grade sister and seventh-grade brother and their father had spent the past two hours, she thought maybe she should be more open-minded about the subject.
Samara and her family were among about 400 people who’d just watched a free screening of “Hidden Figures,†the story of three African-American women — mathematicians who played an instrumental role in NASA’s launch of astronaut John Glenn into space on Feb. 20, 1962.
The launch made Glenn the first American to successfully orbit the earth, galvanizing a space program that sent a man to the moon seven years later.
Samara — like most of the world — had never heard of the movie’s three real-life protagonists.
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“It was really amazing how the first African-American women were in NASA and how they made a great thing for society,†she said.
That’s just the sort of reaction Shannon Mitchell-Boekstal and Miki Montgomery were hoping for Saturday, when they organized the free screening of the movie for students in third through eighth grade and their families.
Mitchell-Boekstal, a service coordinator at Lincoln Public Schools who works with families of young children with developmental delays, read how Taraji P. Henson, who plays Katherine Johnson in the movie, bought out a theater so low-income children could see the movie.
That hit home.
“I was a struggling single mom for a long time and couldn’t afford to take my kids to a movie,†she said. “You take advantage of the times when you can be with your kids and not break the bank or take money out of the grocery fund.â€
She wanted to do that here, and called her friend Montgomery, who used to teach school at Clinton Elementary. Montgomery was immediately on board.
They called friends and organizations such as South Street Temple, which helped solicit donations. Goldenrod Printing printed fliers for free, Indigo Bridge Bookstore donated books with strong female characters to be raffled off Saturday at the theater and Ivanna Cone gave out coupons.
They rented three movie screens and had to turn people down.
Saturday morning, the theater was decorated with pictures of famous women. Sally Wei, coordinator of engineering education and outreach with the University of Nebraska-Lincoln’s Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families and Schools, was there with a host of science and math games for students to try out before the movie.
Michelle Suarez, retired principal of Everett Elementary who now works with the initiative Prosper Nebraska, encouraged students to keep putting one foot in front of the other to achieve their dreams.
Part of what Mitchell-Boekstal wanted to do was let people know about three women who’d played such an integral part in the history of the space program — and had gotten no recognition for it.
“I didn’t know who a lot of these women were and I should have — I wanted to get that out.â€
She and Montgomery wanted to inspire young children to pursue their dreams, to let young girls know that they can pursue careers in science and math and engineering, if that’s their passion.
They welcomed families because they wanted to spark discussion.
“We wanted to start a dialogue with families,†Mitchell-Boekstal said. “We wanted young people to feel empowered and supported by families.â€
For Samara, one of the best parts of the movie was when one of the women convinced a judge to allow her to attend an all-white high school to get the extension credits she needed to qualify to become an engineer.
That was something — and just the sort of seeds Mitchell-Boekstal and Montgomery hoped to plant.
“If this inspired one child, one little girl to think she can do science and succeed, then it was all worth it,†Mitchell-Boekstal said.