MESA Students Recount Their Experiences as NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars
Inspire. Engage. Educate. Employ.
These are the guiding principles behind the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program, which four SBCC MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) students had to opportunity to participate in recently.
Mary Grace Sy, Ismael Carvajal, Armando Ibarra and Brandon Molina shared their enthusiasm for the program with our campus community on September 14, taking us through their experiences one by one.
The program started with each student spending several weeks taking an online course about NASA’s missions. Based on the course results, students from around the country were then competitively selected to attend a 4-day on-site workshop at one of the NASA field centers. Mary, Armando and Brandon were among those selected to go to the Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, Ismael went to the Johnson Space Center in Houston.
At each site, students worked together on teams constructing robotic rovers to explore other worlds. The teams’ finished rovers then competed with one another in simulated challenges.
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