For the Reporter

Kent-area high school students recently completed Phase One of the Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS) program at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Kentlake’s Samuel Hubbard and Tyler Midkiff, Raisbeck Aviation’s Noah Palmer and Brandon Vallin Silva and Kentwood’s Abriel Rodriguez were among those high school juniors who participated in the first phase of the program cycle.

The WAS program, now in its eighth year, is a competitive science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education program for high school juniors from throughout the state. It is an affiliate of NASA Johnson Space Center’s National High School Aerospace Scholars program.

A partnership with the University of Washington also gives Phase One participants the option to receive five UW credits in space and space travel upon completion of the online curriculum. The credits satisfy the natural world area of knowledge requirement for graduation from the UW.

A field of 214 students are participating and have already completed seven online lessons. They will spend the next two months continuing to compete for one of the 160 slots available in a summer residency session at The Museum of Flight in June and July.

To qualify for summer residency, students must satisfactorily complete 10 online lessons, consisting of research essays, space-related math problems and detailed graphics that illustrate their ideas.

Founded in 2006 by five-time NASA shuttle astronaut Dr. Bonnie J. Dunbar, the WAS program’s primary goal is to excite and prepare student to pursue careers pathways in STEM fields.

The WAS program is possible with support from The Museum of Flight, The Boeing Company, The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium, The GenCorp Foundation, and many individual donors.

For WAS applications or to learn more about the program, visit www.museumofflight.org/was.