Buzz Aldrin's hometown middle school renamed for him

Mount Hebron Middle School in Montclair is now Buzz Aldrin Middle School.

MONTCLAIR -- Forty-six years after he became the second person to walk on the moon, Buzz Aldrin has a school in his home state named after him.

The Montclair Board of Education voted 6-0 Monday night, with one abstention, to change the name of its Mt. Hebron Middle School to "Buzz Aldrin Middle School," board members confirm. Aldrin, who grew up in Montclair, attended the middle school and graduated from Montclair High School in 1947.

The renaming comes after a long-discussed movement in the township to honor the astronaut, who has cited the school as what sparked his interest in science.

In its resolution naming the middle school for Aldrin, the Montclair Board of Education references a quote he made in a Montclair Times article earlier this year calling his time in middle school a "turning point."

"That middle school would be the most revered in my retrospect of my youth," he said.

Though naming the school for the famed astronaut had been talked about in town for years, Katie Severance, founder of the Man on the Moon Committee, said it did not become a real possibility until this past February, when she and a group of residents presented a renaming proposal to the board of education.

"The support has been overwhelmingly positive in the community" to recognize Aldrin, she said. But, Severance said, there was a group who preferred "Mount Hebron," which has a long history as the name of the STEM magnet school.

As a compromise, the middle school's auditorium will be named, "Mount Hebron."

Severance called the board's vote "history in the making." 

"It was thrilling to formally connect the Montclair School District with the legacy of Buzz Aldrin, and the United States' accomplishments in exploration, and in all of the sciences."

The committee, she said, will continue to work with the school district and Aldrin's camp to host an official renaming ceremony, which the retired astronaut could attend. It also plans to help produce new signage, and develop programs at the school that are reflective of its new name, she said.

"It puts a nice focus on science and technology, I think," Board of Education President Jessica de Koninck said in a phone interview.

"For (some people)...this will have a lot of meaning."

The school marks the first in New Jersey, and the third nationwide, to be named for Aldrin, committee members said. The astronaut even tweeted his appreciation to the board Tuesday.

So honored that my home town Middle School will be named after me in Montclair, NJ. https://t.co/4KY1RMnT98 pic.twitter.com/P7Ce8N03a5

-- Buzz Aldrin (@TheRealBuzz) October 20, 2015