Northbrook Middle School Team Among Select Few In U.S. Chosen For NASA Trip

NORTHBROOK, IL — Four outstanding students from Maple School got the experience of a lifetime last month when they traveled to NASA's Kennedy Space Center, a trip they earned through the Central Washington University Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pathways Artemis ROADS III NASA competition.

According to Northbrook/Glenview School District 30, seventh graders Marian Shidenko, Tyler Upchurch, Hanzhe Cheng, plus now Glenbrook North freshman Kyrylo Miretskyi, made the trip after completing this "highly competitive challenge." Maple School science teacher Tricia Kearns joined the students for the trip.

The quartet was one of just 13 teams out of 333 in the country selected for the trip.

"It was a truly stellar trip and it all started with a bit of serendipity," Kearns said. "I stumbled upon this opportunity in one of my educator social media groups and knew I had to bring it to our students. The stars aligned when one of our students who has a passion for NASA and rockets rallied a team of his peers to join the challenge."

The district said NESSP's 2024-25 Artemis ROADS III National Challenge helps middle and high school student teams enhance their STEM skills and knowledge.

From last October through early May of this year, teams were challenged to complete eight "Mission Objectives" that were inspired by NASA's Artemis Missions, whose goal is to send humans back to the moon. During the first six months of the year, participating students:

• Designed and launched high-flying water bottle rockets
• Investigated and compared water on the earth and the moon
• Coded a Lego spike robot to navigate simulated terrain challenges on the moon
• Designed a unique team mission patch (rover challenge)
• Conducted experiments to investigate the challenges of growing plants on the moon

During their time at the Kennedy Space Center, the Maple School students received exclusive, behind-the-scenes tours of NASA's launch complex and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, spent several days in the visitor center, witnessed both night and day rocket launches, and met with astronaut Guy Gardner.