NASA seeks input from Colorado high school students through HUNCH program

NASA seeks input from high school students through HUNCH program

NASA was in Jefferson County Tuesday to greet hard working high schoolers, hoping to lend a hand with some of its biggest challenges.

It's all part of the NASA HUNCH program. While its already in its 13th year for Colorado high schoolers, the projects become more impressive and just as much of a benefit to the students as it is to NASA.

Since the summer, hundreds of students from across the nation have been working on projects that center around NASA's Artemis Mission. Between three and five students from across the country will actually be selected to help.

CBS

"These are not just fluff projects that we just come up with. They're actually things from our engineers, from our doctors that they've said we need and so we work with them to come up with these great design ideas," said Alli Westover, a biomedical engineer with the NASA HUNCH program.

Westover works directly with NASA flight crews on a day-to-day basis and reviews close to 500 student projects for the HUNCH program annually.

On Tuesday she was in Jefferson County with a handful of NASA staff members for the critical design review, the first chance for students to showcase their work.

"I feel like, while my prototype last year was great and I really liked it, I feel like this year is my best work so far and just each year, it keeps getting better," said Ronin Mannina, a senior at Lakewood High School.

Alli Westover, a biomedical engineer with NASA, left, examines a project from Lakewood High School students Ronin Mannina, center, and Wilson Moyer. CBS

Mannina has been in the program for four years and this year, he said having a good partner was crucial.

"Just those team building skills," he said. "It's a lot of extra work outside of school but having a good partner makes the work fun."

"Our project is the butterfly parabolic collapsing mirror," said Wilson Moyer, Mannina's partner.

Moyer described how the pair came up with a lightweight collapsible mirror that works to melt lunar rock and dust to create bricks for lunar habitats.

Moyer and Mannina are confident in their design, but the reasons they joined the program go beyond being one of the few selected.

"Even these interview opportunities are great for building skills and I feel like I've grown a lot even in just this short period of time," said Moyer.

"Part of the reason I went to Lakewood High School is because it had this program, and I've always wanted to go into an aerospace direction and I figured what better way to do that than to work with NASA," said Mannina.

In Colorado, there are three school districts participating with a total of 85 projects: Jefferson County, Cherry Creek and Denver.

Students will find out at the end of March which prototypes were selected.

For more information, click here: https://nasahunch.com/