Quick look: Twelve Orange County students got to visit NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab after crushing their reading goals in the STEAM Race to Space Reading Challenge, a countywide literacy initiative designed to spark interest in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics.
Twelve Orange County students with a passion for science and reading recently earned an out-of-this-world opportunity to visit the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.
Their behind-the-scenes tour last month came as a reward for going above and beyond in the annual STEAM Race to Space Reading Challenge, a literacy program designed to spark students’ interest in science, technology, engineering, the arts and mathematics through grade-level books and hands-on experiences.
The most recent challenge, which kicked off in October 2024, drew more than 1,000 student participants from across the region who collectively logged 103,689 minutes and 186,990 pages of reading. Of those, 18 students from the middle grade and young adult reading groups earned a bonus trip to JPL. A dozen were able to attend the summer tour, which offered a rare, close-up look at NASA’s cutting-edge technologies and space missions.
Now in its fourth year, the STEAM Race to Space Reading Challenge is led by youth literacy nonprofit Timeless Learning Inc. in partnership with OCDE and 4Space. The challenge features recommended booklists for four reading levels — picture books, early readers, middle grade and young adult — with selections ranging from classic science fiction novels like “Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea” by Jules Verne to educational nonfiction like Temple Grandin’s “Calling All Minds: How to Think and Create Like an Inventor.”
Students earn additional tickets for each minute they read after meeting their base reading goals, and they can enter those tickets into raffles for exciting bonuses like trips to the Aquarium of the Pacific, author meet-and-greets and school supply packages.
At the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, students got to walk the same halls as scientists and engineers, visiting the Space Flight Operations Facility known as Mission Control where NASA manages dozens of active spacecrafts and missions. They also saw a model of the Curiosity Rover that was designed to explore whether Mars had conditions suitable for small life forms, and they ended their trip with lunch at the California Institute of Technology’s famed dining hall called The Athenaeum.
Student Sahas Yalamanchili at Brywood Elementary School in Irvine said the whole experience sparked his curiosity about space exploration.
“My favorite part was getting to see the Curiosity Rover in a 1-to-1 ratio size and just learning about space in general,” Sahas said.
Accompanying the students on the visit along with their parents, Reading Challenge founder Pat Burns said it was inspiring to watch the kids light up as they caught a glimpse of the innovative projects being worked on by NASA.
“As long as they are happy and we can encourage them to continue to read about STEM, that’s all I can ask for,” Burns said.
Students from several school districts and educational institutions across Orange County participated:
- Kenzie Murdie, Serrano Intermediate School (Saddleback Valley Unified School District)
- Emma Zirney, Serrano Intermediate School (Saddleback Valley Unified School District)
- Madelyn Perez, Trabuco Hills High School (Saddleback Valley Unified School District)
- Andrew Lee Golden, Hill Elementary School (Garden Grove Unified School District)
- Harry Lee, Parks Junior High (Fullerton School District)
- Julia Rundzio, Sequoia Academy GATE Magnet Elementary (Westminster School District)
- Matthew Jay, Orchard Hills School (Tustin Unified School District)
- Sahas Yalamanchili, Brywood Elementary School (Irvine Unified School District)
- Sai Sitaraman, Troy High School (Fullerton Joint Union High School District)
- Rinal Jamal, Heritage Oak Private Education
- Delaney Martinez, Homeschool
- Ryan Melendez, The Pegasus School
Organizers say the program not only inspires an interest in reading but also helps students envision futures in science and space exploration.
Families who want to get their kids involved can sign up starting Sept. 19 on the STEAM Race to Space Reading Challenge website. Teachers interested in registering their classes can find more information on the reading challenge resources page.