Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) recently announced that two local students are among the talented juniors from across the state of whose academic performance on the WAS Phase One curriculum qualified them for Phase Two – the WAS Summer Residency.

Cameron Lee and Garrett Leung from Mercer Island High School will be moving to Phase Two.

WAS is designed to connect high school juniors in with educational and career opportunities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics through independent learning, hands-on interaction, professional guidance, and site-based tours.

In December 2017, these motivated students were among the 200 who began competing for a spot in one of the WAS Summer Residency sessions by completing ten NASA and University of Washington designed lessons- Phase One of the WAS program. Students were able to register to earn five UW credits based on successful completion of the curriculum.

Phase Two is a six-day experience that will be held at The Museum of Flight in Seattle during three sessions throughout June and July. In each session, four student teams cooperate to plan a human mission to Mars with support from professional engineers/ scientists, university students, and certificated educators. Additionally, participants receive briefings from aerospace professionals, tour engineering facilities, and compete in hands-on engineering challenges.

“The curriculum is difficult, especially during junior year, but worth the gained knowledge and experience,” said Uyen Tran, a 2016 program participant in a press release. “I have learned more than I ever would have about space and the universe, applied this knowledge to real-life, applicable problems, and ultimately, made multiple friends through this entire experience.”

Student and teacher applications for the 2018-19 program year will be available starting August 2018 at www.museumofflight.org/was Participants must be high school juniors and residents of Washington, Oregon or Montana.

More information can be attained by contacting Melissa Edwards, the Museum of Flight’s director of Digital Learning, at medwards@museumofflight.org.