Students from Westminster High School’s MERITS program are diving headfirst into the NASA TechRise Student Challenge.
This spring, these scholars are channeling their passion for science and technology into a high-flying experiment set to launch aboard a rocket-powered lander as part of a nationwide competition.
The MERITS program, a specialized honors program that integrates math, science and technology, has primed these students for the Future Engineers NASA TechRise Student Challenge. When junior Ryan Dam recognized an opportunity to apply their classroom lessons to practical innovation, he, along with his teacher Huy Pham, gathered their team, Astro26 Ryan’s Rangers, to craft a submission.
As one of the 60 teams nationwide selected for the TechRise Challenge, the MERITS scholars will test their experiment in a payload, which is essentially the equipment or instruments carried aboard the rocket-powered lander. Their experiment is designed to analyze how moon dust affects lidar imaging. Short for “light detection and ranging,” lidar is a remote sensing method used to examine the surface of the Earth.
The team, comprising students from freshmen to seniors, has been diligently working since February on algorithms, electronic components, light sensors and infrared technology to ensure that their payload is fully prepared for the mission.
“This project has allowed everyone in our team to further their knowledge and techniques, and has fostered a team of all grade levels aiming to work together to find solutions,” Ryan said.
Astro26 Ryan’s Rangers are now preparing to send their finalized experiment to NASA for testing over the summer, with results expected in the fall.
“As excited as the kids were to find out they get to work on their own NASA-inspired project, the bonus prize is that they get to be mentored by engineers, learn from experts and practice their skills in a real-world project,” Pham, MERITS program coach, said.
Here are the other stories we’ve been following this week:
- Four teams of seventh- and eighth-grade students from Orange County participated alongside more than 700 other young scholars from across the nation in the 2024 United States Academic Pentathlon competition.
- The class of 2024, the only cohort to have started its freshman year during a global pandemic, will be celebrated by family and friends over the next few weeks as they receive their high school diplomas.
- A group of veterans visited Costa Mesa High School, sharing personal war stories with students and highlighting the sacrifices made for freedom ahead of Memorial Day.
- Seventh-grader Katelyn Nguyen from Stacey Middle School in the Westminster School District completed four rounds of the Scripps National Spelling Bee in Washington, D.C., before being eliminated in the quarterfinals. The staff and students from Katelyn’s campus surprised her with a celebration before she left for the competition.
- Warner Middle School in Westminster promoted the first cohort of Vietnamese dual-language immersion students in Orange County to high school. The program, which began in 2015, has expanded with higher student performance and increased enrollment.
- Sixty-eight students from the Orange County Department of Education’s ACCESS program and the Special Education division’s Connections program participated in the 10th annual Jack R. Hammett Memorial Day Essay and Art Contest, reflecting on the meaning of the federal holiday.
- Senate Bill 907, introduced by a pair of local senators, seeks to add two additional trustees to the Orange County Board of Education and shift elections from the primary to November. The bill is progressing to the California Assembly for committee assignment and hearings.
- Los Amigos High in the Garden Grove Unified School District celebrated its commencement Wednesday at Monsoor Stadium, presenting diplomas to 338 seniors. They are among the district’s 3,150 graduates, including 60 from the Early College Academy Program and many heading to the UC and CSU systems.
- Students from elementary school to college, alongside the UC Irvine’s Center for Environmental Biology internship program and the Orange County Department of Education, are collaborating on a yearlong project to protect Orange County’s oak woodlands through research and care, aiming to restore habitats facing challenges from wildfires and invasive pests.
- The Newport-Mesa Unified School District officially commenced its graduation season this week, honoring Early College High School’s record-achieving seniors and STEP program graduates in Costa Mesa ceremonies.
- The Fullerton Joint Union High School District’s Dual Enrollment Program signed a formal agreement with Cypress and Fullerton colleges to allow students to earn free, transferable college credits through classes taught by college professors on high school campuses.
- The Newsom administration resolved a dispute with K-12 education groups over multiyear funding — deferring billions for a few years, pending legislative approval — to meet the June 15 deadline, spare TK-12 schools from major cuts and comply with Proposition 98.
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