Pastor Theodore began (his) school of nursing in 1836. *

I find the word 'boondoggle' unusual.  Since 'boondoggle' means 'a useless or wasteful project', I'd predict that they wasted time on planning a project that didn't work or didn't seem to cohere to what they were trying to do. But relating to an essay about the American space program, I'd say that they use the term boondoggle because people might have thought that the American space program were wasting time on exploring space when they still have a lot to learn on earth.

Explanation:

Try to change up the words so the teachers don't find out that you're plagarising, because I put this as my answer. Hope this helps though!