Learning Beyond the Classroom

LEARNING BEYOND THE CLASSROOM – NASA HASSE SPACE SCHOOL INTERNATIONAL STUDY PROGRAM - SENIOR SPACE SCHOOL

This week, as students prepare for their summer vacation, two of our students head to Houston, Texas, USA to participate in the Houston Association for Space and Science Education (HASSE) International Study Program at HASSE’s Senior Space School.

Odelia (Class of 2016) and Celeste (Year 10) will head off in early December for what promises to be an opportunity of a lifetime. Their itinerary is a rich one; travelling to NASA facilities, hearing from astronauts and rocket scientists, designing a Mars rover, building a rocket and water purification system, and experiencing some of the space simulations astronauts use to train for space missions. These are just some of the exciting activities they will be involved in.

Odelia, who has just completed her HSC, is particularly keen to see the real life application of what she learned in Year 12 Physics, with her study units on space and motors that link with rockets and escape velocity. Odelia is interested in aeronautical engineering as a future career, having studied Chemistry, Physics and 4-Unit Mathematics, and this study tour brings that reality that much closer.

Celeste, entering Year 11 next year, is interested in space exploration and has always been intrigued by the thought of a person’s survival for long periods of time in a manmade atmosphere in a spacecraft, and the effects this might have on the human body. Having just chosen her Year 11 subjects for next year, which include the sciences and maths, she too is looking forward to this opportunity, and hopes to refine her interests in science and engineering for tertiary study.

Earlier this year, in the July holidays, two of our junior students, Simona Noulas and Velia Fierro (Year 8), were able to experience the same journey, attending the HASSE international Study Junior Space School Program.

As a member school of The Alliance of Girls' Schools Australasia (AGSA) the College can be part of this global connection and access first class opportunities which offer our students exciting educational and leadership opportunities for girls. Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics are a strong focus for us at Domremy. If, when Odelia had started secondary school, she had been asked “would you like to go to NASA” she would have said “yes”. However, had she been asked “do you think you will get there?”, her answer would likely have been “no”. How wonderful, therefore, that such opportunities exist and that we can tap in to them for our students. How much more real can it be for a girl who is dreaming of entering astrophysics or aeronautical engineering to work with specialists in the field, or experience the moon’s gravitational pull, or articulate her ideas on the design of a Mars rover? We only need one of these girls to end up in the space field to make a massive difference.

We wish Odelia and Celeste well on their journey and look forward to welcoming Odelia back to school next year and hearing form both her and Celeste about their experiences.

Image: Odelia and Celeste at the crater at the Moon and Mars testing field (Dec 2016)