Georgia high school students competing in NASA learning program

ATLANTA, Ga. (Atlanta News First) - Students at Maxwell High School of Technology are creating, designing, and building solutions for NASA researchers. Their hope is astronauts will use their designs in space.

Every year, 2,575 students from 277 schools across the country participate in NASA HUNCH. HUNCH stands for “High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware.”

The students in Brandon Myers’ manufacturing course are moving on to the final round of judging, where they will present their designs to astronauts.

“It highlights their natural abilities that lie dormant until an opportunity comes up. The generation we have graduating now and the teenage class we have now are some of the best of us. When you are in an environment like this and the steps they can move to on their own. It’s hard not to realize the students we have are incredible,” said Myers.

The class is heading to the Johnson Space Center in Houston to hand deliver the parts they’ve built, they’ll be held to NASA’s rigorous standards.

Finalists Henry Chu and Lucas Burdian took on the challenge of developing a system for IV Administration in Micro Gravity. Finalists Joseph De Lima and Nate Coletta decided to work on the challenge of a Lunar Scooter Wheel Design.

“There are a lot of ways to improve things and do things that people aren’t doing right now,” said Colletta.

Less than a dozen schools in Georgia are registered to participate in the NASA HUNCH program. Myers wants to encourage more schools to enroll because it teaches students skills like problem-solving.

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