Three Ballakermeen High School students have been recalling their adventure of a lifetime after going to the United Space School in Texas.
Isabelle Nazar, Holly McEvoy and Dante Kunstel won this year’s River Advisers scholarships to attend Space School, where they spent two weeks planning a crewed mission to Mars, supported by NASA astronauts, engineers and scientists.
The sixth formers joined students from about 20 other countries and told the story of their trip at a special presentation in Tynwald’s Barrool Suite.
Isabelle is studying maths, further maths, physics and German at A-level. She was on the Green Team, which was tasked with developing a detailed plan for a human habitat on Mars.
She said: “Being surrounded by people from such a wide range of countries and backgrounds made the experience particularly exciting and I enjoyed hearing different perspectives.
Neil Armstrong
“One of the host dads had trained Neil Armstrong and he was also friends with my host family, which meant I had the incredible opportunity to hear about his career and experiences first-hand. It was fascinating to learn about his involvement in the early development of human spaceflight and to hear stories from someone who had worked with one of the most famous astronauts in history.”
All three received certificates marking their achievement from Department of Education, Sport & Culture political member Paul Craine MLC.
River Advisers has been sponsoring sixth-form students from the Island to attend Space School since 2000.
Space School every organised by the Foundation for International Space Education. The Year 12 students won an essay competition to follow in the footsteps of previous scholars.
Challenging Mission
Holly is studying A-levels in maths, biology and physics.
She revealed: “The mission was more challenging than I expected – we weren’t given a step-by-step plan, so we had to research things ourselves, make decisions and be able to justify them. It taught me a lot about working as part of a team.
“Space School hasn’t made me want to go into the space industry as a career. However, it has given me skills that will be useful whatever career I choose.
“I went to Houston expecting to learn about space, but I came home with much more than that. I made friends from around the world who I still speak to every day, experienced a completely different culture and learnt skills that I’ll take into whatever I decide to do in the future.”
Inspiring
Dante is studying A-levels in maths, physics and biology, along with an EPQ (Extended Project Qualification). He was tasked with designing the Mars rover and spacesuit.
He said: “Space School has inspired me to work harder in school and succeed.
“Seeing the innovation in the various museums and exhibits we visited really made me appreciate the amount of work that goes into getting people into space.
“The most rewarding part of the trip was making friends and having such a great time with them. We did many activities together and I made some great lifelong friends.”