My time on team Space Shell 6 has got to be one of the best experiences I have ever had. We have worked together as a team and have become very good friends. I am so excited that we get to launch our experiment to the ISS and to review the outcomes. I would highly recommend this program to any stem inspired student.
The first day of the camp I only knew one of my future teammates. We sat at a table and these other girls that I didn’t know sat with us and that became our team. We had a really rocky start. I remember the first thing we did was a challenge to hold up a tennis ball with a tower that our team made with certain materials. We weren’t communicating with each other and we were all working on different things. When our time was up, none of us had a tower that could hold up the ball. We learned after that if we wanted to win, we had to work together. We became a really good team after that and actually ended up winning the teamwork award.
When we found out that our project was going to space we were all at one of our teammates' houses after school. We had the facebook live going on the tv and were all holding hands. I was much less nervous about finding out if we won this time than at LSSU, because I was surrounded by really good friends that were just as excited as I was. When they said that we won we started jumping up and down, hugging, crying, and screaming. It felt unreal. We had pizza and ice cream together after and that night I slept really really well.
We started fundraising soon after knowing that we wanted to go to Florida to watch the launch. Our schools have been an amazing help and even let us set up a bake sale. We have done lots of fundraisers like a can drive, go fund me, lemonade stand, and we have had lots of generous businesses donate to us. Our families have all been amazing at helping us with everything, as we have never done anything like this before.
I think Higher Orbits is an amazing organization. I have always had a fascination with space but after being involved with that camp and meeting people in the space industry, I really want a future there. Getting to meet astronaut Don Thomas was amazing and very inspiring. He told us what it was like being an astronaut and encouraged us all to ask questions. We got to meet someone from the air force and a girl who talked about overcoming her obstacles in mathematics and her persistence to achieve her goals.
Getting even closer to the launch my excitement grows! Like I said, at first it felt unreal, and it still does in some ways, but I know now that it wasn’t just a really good dream. I have read the emails about the launch over and over again. I am terribly excited and can’t wait until I get to Florida. Experiences like this don’t happen often in my community and I am very proud to say that I was a part of it. Thank you Higher Orbits and Michelle Lucas for that opportunity.
Written By – Siri Olson
