A group of students from Segerstrom High School in Santa Ana recently toured Virgin Galactic’s facilities and hangar where the WhiteKnightTwo and SpaceShipTwo vehicles are being built.
The 45 students travelled last month to the Mojave Desert site that’s now at the forefront of human space travel. The visit, chronicled here, was offered by Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides after Segerstrom students attended the Aerospace Workforce Development Symposium in September at UC Irvine.
The tour was organized as part of a partnership between OC Pathways and Base 11.
On the tour, students got up close with innovative technologies like wings that fold mid-flight and cardboard-like composite material used to construct spacecraft. They also saw flight simulators that pilots use to train.
“From the flight simulator to watching the making of the new spaceships to actually seeing the spaceship and mothership — all wow!” Shadi, a senior said.
Many of the students walked away inspired that they, too, could work for a leading-edge company like Virgin if they work hard enough.
Here are a few more education stories from across Orange County for the week ending Jan. 26.
- OCDE was represented Friday at the 2018 NAMM Show, which provided a national stage for a panel discussion on music and arts education.
- Scores schools across Orange County and throughout the state are taking part in the Great Kindness Challenge this week. Created by the nonprofit group Kids for Peace, the Great Kindness Challenge is a national program devoted to capturing as many acts of kindness as possible in a single week.
- Sixth-grader Jazmine Alvarado’s “Tiger Truck” design was recently chosen as the winner of this year’s OC-GRIP Mobile Design Competition. Black tiger stripes over an orange background now wrap around an SUV that traverses the county, serving as a resource for schools and families.
- A new report stresses how social and emotional skills are intertwined with academics as critical components to learning and student success, citing agreement among researchers, educators, parents, teachers and youth advocates.
- The city of Mission Viejo started registration for a free college workshop aimed at helping students identify careers matching their interests and personalities.
- California districts have stepped-up science education in grades six through 12, with plans to integrate more of the curriculum into elementary school grade levels.
- Two Orange County Department of Education educators were named finalists for Parenting OC’s 2018 Top Teachers of Orange County Awards.
- A Canyon High School junior recently completed her first solo flight at Fullerton Airport. She’s the first student from Canyon’s innovative aviation program to complete the feat.
- A major renovation is expected to turn Anaheim’s Magnolia High School into a starting point for future-focused careers in computers and technology fields. The project will start in late 2018.
Follow the latest schools news by bookmarking newsroom.ocde.us.