Inspiring the future with NASA on Campus
2016-11-29
NASA’s intrepid interns know how important hands-on experience can be for shaping a career in the future. With that in mind, they took it upon themselves to give the scientists and explorers of tomorrow a hand—one spacesuit glove at a time.
NASA on Campus is an outreach program run by interns at NASA’s Johnson Space Center that is focused on educating and inspiring Houston-area students. Each semester, the interns select a school to work with and then go to that school with presentations about NASA and fun science-related activities for the students to do.
This semester, NASA on Campus focused on educating elementary school students about NASA, JSC and human spaceflight. The interns reached out to local elementary schools and ultimately partnered with Margaret S. McWhirter Elementary School in Webster, Texas. The partnership flourished into one of NASA on Campus’ most successful semesters ever.
During the course of the fall internship semester, NASA on Campus visited McWhirter Elementary five times. By continuing to return to the school, NASA on Campus was able to speak to every single student—from kindergarten through fifth grade—at the school, totaling nearly 900 students.
“I am so fortunate to be in the position I am, spending a semester at NASA, being able to go to the school and talk about what I do,” said Arjun Sethi, a computer science and chemical engineering intern at JSC. “Seeing the excitement on their faces about my job is truly humbling. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in their seat, and I want to make sure that every one of those students are given the same opportunities to succeed that I have been given.”
Beyond the obvious fun students had seeing NASA exhibits at their school, the presentations were an important factor, too. A large number of the college students in the NASA internship program are in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors. This allowed the elementary students to see, firsthand, some of the amazing possibilities that can come from perusing a degree in STEM.
“I think being able to talk to these students at a young age is a powerful tool in letting them to know that they can do whatever they want in life,” said Kaitlin Lostroscio, a mechanical engineering intern at JSC. “NASA on Campus has been a great opportunity to encourage students to get involved with STEM and grow a passion for space exploration.”
NASA on Campus highlights STEM, but presents the information in a fun and engaging way. Presentations start with a brief overview of NASA’s history and quickly switch gears to interactive activities set up at different tables in the school gym—similar to a science fair.
“After we teach them a little bit of NASA history, we really try to engage the students by having them try on space gloves and helmets, as well as showing them astronaut food,” Sethi said. “When they put on the helmet, their faces really light up because they are getting to try on something that they have seen in movies but have never been able to touch or really understand.”
While all of the stations did an excellent job of engaging students, the most popular stations tended to be the UV beads, astronaut sleeping bag, Apollo-era helmet and, of course, spacesuit gloves.
“The first time we visited the school, we had this giant group of students gathered around the table with the space gloves, itching to put them on,” Lostroscio said. “We started thinking that there had to be something for them to do with the gloves beside put them on, so we decided to build an obstacle course (where) the students had to put on the glove, pick up a penny, write their name with a pencil and then take off the glove. At the end of the day, whoever had the fastest time won.”
After about an hour of activities, the group came back together in the middle of the gym to discuss what they had learned. Students shared a wide array of information that they had taken in, ranging from the fact that astronauts have to sleep tethered up so that they don’t fly around the space station, to that food has to be specially selected for space to avoid the problem of crumbs.
“NASA on Campus has given our students an amazing opportunity to experience hands-on science that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to see,” said Beth Pawlowski, vice principal of McWhirter Elementary. “When you hear the way that students talk about NASA and the work being done at JSC the rest of the day, you know that this will have a profound impact on them and will hopefully help them to develop a love for STEM.”
At the end of every presentation, the interns gathered all the students in a circle and remind them that if they study hard … they can do anything they want in the world (and beyond it). Students were then asked to raise their hand high in the air if they wanted to be an astronaut one day.
Judging by the 800 hands that shot up immediately, the future of NASA will be in good hands.
Noah Michelsohn
NASA Johnson Space Center
NASA on Campus is an outreach program run by interns at NASA’s Johnson Space Center that is focused on educating and inspiring Houston-area students. Each semester, the interns select a school to work with and then go to that school with presentations about NASA and fun science-related activities for the students to do.
This semester, NASA on Campus focused on educating elementary school students about NASA, JSC and human spaceflight. The interns reached out to local elementary schools and ultimately partnered with Margaret S. McWhirter Elementary School in Webster, Texas. The partnership flourished into one of NASA on Campus’ most successful semesters ever.
During the course of the fall internship semester, NASA on Campus visited McWhirter Elementary five times. By continuing to return to the school, NASA on Campus was able to speak to every single student—from kindergarten through fifth grade—at the school, totaling nearly 900 students.
“I am so fortunate to be in the position I am, spending a semester at NASA, being able to go to the school and talk about what I do,” said Arjun Sethi, a computer science and chemical engineering intern at JSC. “Seeing the excitement on their faces about my job is truly humbling. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in their seat, and I want to make sure that every one of those students are given the same opportunities to succeed that I have been given.”
Beyond the obvious fun students had seeing NASA exhibits at their school, the presentations were an important factor, too. A large number of the college students in the NASA internship program are in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) majors. This allowed the elementary students to see, firsthand, some of the amazing possibilities that can come from perusing a degree in STEM.
“I think being able to talk to these students at a young age is a powerful tool in letting them to know that they can do whatever they want in life,” said Kaitlin Lostroscio, a mechanical engineering intern at JSC. “NASA on Campus has been a great opportunity to encourage students to get involved with STEM and grow a passion for space exploration.”
NASA on Campus highlights STEM, but presents the information in a fun and engaging way. Presentations start with a brief overview of NASA’s history and quickly switch gears to interactive activities set up at different tables in the school gym—similar to a science fair.
“After we teach them a little bit of NASA history, we really try to engage the students by having them try on space gloves and helmets, as well as showing them astronaut food,” Sethi said. “When they put on the helmet, their faces really light up because they are getting to try on something that they have seen in movies but have never been able to touch or really understand.”
While all of the stations did an excellent job of engaging students, the most popular stations tended to be the UV beads, astronaut sleeping bag, Apollo-era helmet and, of course, spacesuit gloves.
“The first time we visited the school, we had this giant group of students gathered around the table with the space gloves, itching to put them on,” Lostroscio said. “We started thinking that there had to be something for them to do with the gloves beside put them on, so we decided to build an obstacle course (where) the students had to put on the glove, pick up a penny, write their name with a pencil and then take off the glove. At the end of the day, whoever had the fastest time won.”
After about an hour of activities, the group came back together in the middle of the gym to discuss what they had learned. Students shared a wide array of information that they had taken in, ranging from the fact that astronauts have to sleep tethered up so that they don’t fly around the space station, to that food has to be specially selected for space to avoid the problem of crumbs.
“NASA on Campus has given our students an amazing opportunity to experience hands-on science that they otherwise wouldn’t have been able to see,” said Beth Pawlowski, vice principal of McWhirter Elementary. “When you hear the way that students talk about NASA and the work being done at JSC the rest of the day, you know that this will have a profound impact on them and will hopefully help them to develop a love for STEM.”
At the end of every presentation, the interns gathered all the students in a circle and remind them that if they study hard … they can do anything they want in the world (and beyond it). Students were then asked to raise their hand high in the air if they wanted to be an astronaut one day.
Judging by the 800 hands that shot up immediately, the future of NASA will be in good hands.
Noah Michelsohn
NASA Johnson Space Center
From left, NASA interns Nick Spalding, Robert Hamilton, Noah Michelsohn, Manuel Retana and Kaitlin Lostroscio speak to McWhirter Elementary School students on Nov. 18. Image Credit: NASA
Michelsohn demonstrates the distance from the Earth to the International Space Station, moon and Mars during the Nov. 18 NASA on Campus event. Image Credit: NASA
Lostroscio demonstrates how UV rays work using color-changing beads. Image Credit: NASA
Spalding describes to the kids how the space shuttle was transported for flight during NASA on Campus. Image Credit: NASA
Hamilton tells students the different ways that astronauts have traveled to space and what they have done while in space. Image Credit: NASA