Washington Aerospace Scholars challenges, inspires students

Challenges and opportunities are always available for motivated students who seek them out. Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) is one such opportunity, one that over 260 high school juniors across the state decided to accept this winter.

WAS is a two-phase program through the University of Washington sponsored by the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Participating juniors across the state began in early December with Phase One, a five-month online aerospace course offered by the University of Washington.

As described on the Museum of Flight’s website, “Phase One is a rigorous, five-month online course designed by NASA and the University of Washington consisting of online lessons and a final project. The curriculum focuses on the history of NASA and the space environment around the Earth, including its control by solar activity and the potential opportunities for human exploration of the solar system.”

Students who finish Phase One with high enough grades have the opportunity to move on to Phase Two: a six-day summer residency at the Museum of Flight in which scholars collaborate to plan a mission to Mars.

The Museum of Flight’s website continued, “Students who qualify for the Summer Residency will get an exclusive inside look at the aerospace industry in Washington State through behind-the-scenes aerospace company tours, STEM expert presentations, and the opportunity to network informally with STEM professionals. Summer Residency participants also get the opportunity to connect with like-minded peers from across the state and participate in engineering challenges, museum tours and team building activities.”

A maximum of 160 students can attend Phase Two, determined by which of the 260 plus scholars achieve higher grades in Phase One.

LRHS Student Hannah Deckard began Phase One in December as a participant in WAS, and is working toward a spot this summer in Phase Two.

For the past four years, LRHS math teacher Thomas Pulliam has been an Online Academic Evaluator (correcting work submitted by the scholars throughout Phase One) and a Summer Residency-Academic Facilitator (assisting throughout Phase Two at the Museum of Flight).

Pulliam said, “My favorite part is to work with highly motivated juniors from across the state and proctor and guide a class for them,”

He continued, “I have seen students who have participated in WAS be able to write their own ticket to whatever comes next after high school. I have got to write a letter of recommendations for top tier schools, help them chart a path to where they want to be, and I have a lot of great friends that I still stay in contact with even though they are finishing up their sophomore year of college this year.

“This program connects kids to the classroom and industry. One of my favorite parts is the summer program where I get to watch them work as a group of 40 broken into groups of 10 solve a challenge in just five days.”

This year is LRHS science teacher Jason Aldrich’s first year as an Online Academic Evaluator and Summer-Residency-Academic Facilitator for WAS.

He said, “I look for more ways to inspire kids to learn more about STEM and I think STEM fields are an exciting career avenue for kids… Sometimes I think aerospace and engineering get a bad rep as being boring or too difficult, but kids are totally inspired by space travel or all of the gadgets and widgets that come with space travel.”

Aldrich added, “Engineering is more than just aerospace engineering, it’s a way of thinking… It’s something I think kids need to do more of: researching, writing, drawing, reading, creating and building.”

Students face many challenges and reap many benefits from the WAS program, which will be explained in an upcoming installment of The Bronco Bulletin.