SHAKOPEE, Minn. — As students in Shakopee get ready to head off for spring break, some in the school district are focusing on the trip they'll take after break.
"Go to Houston during that time," Limheang Chhun said.
"Go to Texas," Brynn Leary said.
They, along with Kady McGraw are all seniors at Shakopee High School – but this trip to Texas isn't just for fun.
It's to present their hard work.
McGraw and Leary worked together on one project, Chhun on another, with both projects aimed at doing the same thing – improving how astronauts live and work in space and at home.
"They wanna try and alleviate that amount up there," Chhun said about her project, which involves 3D printing medical supplies.
"How can we help make astronauts happier during their time in space?" McGraw said about their project, which uses art to help astronauts with PTSD, struggling to adjust to life back on Earth.
"I thought it was such a cool project," McGraw added.
These projects were so well done that they beat out hundreds of entries from other high schools across the country – impressive enough in it's own right. But that doesn't just come with bragging rights, it comes with that trip to Houston.
Specifically, a trip to present their research to NASA.
"It's great to see how students can come up with lots of different ideas, things we don't even think of," Nancy Hall, project manager and research scientists with the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, said.
Hall also works with HUNCH – High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware, the program both of these projects are in.
Getting to this point was a challenge. Not only did they beat out hundred of entries, but the students are using the same process NASA does.
"They're following the engineering process, exactly what we as engineers follow," Hall said.
Hall admits – not every project that is presented at NASA will be integrated into what they do, but says NASA looks at how ideas can be adapted.
But for these three high schoolers, getting here is the real win – the payoff for all their hard work.
"Maybe they can find a way if they're, you know, dealing with something to find something to help them," McGraw said.
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