Matthew Stepita Washington Aerospace Scholar

Proud mom Diana Stepita sends this note over about her son Matt who’s in the WAS aerospace program…

Matt Stepita in the pilot’s seat of a Cessna Caravan – Contributed photo

Friday Harbor High School junior, Matthew Stepita, has been selected as a Washington Aerospace Scholar for 2013-2014. Washington Aerospace Scholars (WAS), a member of NASA Johnson Space Center’s National High School Aerospace Scholars program, was founded in 2006 by five-time NASA shuttle astronaut Dr. Bonnie J. Dunbar. The WAS program’s primary goal is to prepare students to pursue career pathways in STEM fields. Matt’s goal is to become an Aerospace Engineer.

Matt is currently completing Phase I of the program – a distance-learning curriculum in Space and Space Travel designed in partnership with NASA for which he will earn college credit from the University of Washington. Each space related lesson has comprehension, mathematics and graphics components and requires 10-12 hours to complete. The curriculum gives students the opportunity to explore topics such as the history of human spaceflight and future exploration of the universe.

Phase II involves a summer residency in which students work with professional engineers to design a human mission to Mars. Students will also tour aerospace corporations, visit university research labs and take a behind-the-scenes tour of The Museum of Flight’s NASA shuttle simulator.

The WAS program is possible with support from The Museum of Flight, The Boeing Company, The Washington NASA Space Grant Consortium, The GenCorp Foundation, as well as many individual donors. More info is available at this link (PDF).

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