HAS Celebrates Ten Years
Universities Space Research Association is proud to be an integral part of the High School Aerospace Scholars Program (HAS) as it celebrates its 10-year anniversary. HAS was established in 1999 as a partnership between NASA Johnson Space Center (JSC) and the state of Texas to expose students to the world of space science and technology. Over the past ten years, more than 2,100 of Texas’ top high school students participated in HAS educational activities and workshops.
Under the umbrella of the Texas Aerospace Scholars Program, HAS creates an online community where high school juniors complete challenging space-related lessons comprised of essays, quizzes, reading, problem-solving, design, and engineering. The HAS experience culminates in a week-long workshop at JSC in which top scholars are invited to participate on a Mars-exploration team project. The teams are guided by NASA technical mentors, astronauts, and engineers and each student is eligible to receive one high school science elective for their participation.
The HAS Program not only exposes students to the plethora of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) opportunities at NASA, but also provides a unique hands-on experience that inspires students to pursue careers in STEM fields, to which HAS alumni and current JSC Co-op student Cody Kelly can attest: “HAS provides much more than just an introduction to NASA’s mission and purpose. It proves that NASA is not only in the exploration business, but the ‘inspiration’ business.”
Over the past 10 years, HAS has become a catalyst for students who are interested in a career with NASA, propelling them through the NASA Education Pipeline and into jobs in the space industry. “Seeing the vision become a reality and using human spaceflight as the inspiration for these students to pursue science, technology, engineering and mathematic degrees and careers is very exciting and rewarding,” said Linda Smith, Education Specialist and Texas Aerospace Scholars Program Manager.
The next ten years look bright for HAS as Program Managers hope to see the program expand into other states. Replicas of HAS are currently offered in Washington state at the Museum of Flight and in Virginia by NASA Langley Research Center and the Virginia Space Grant Consortium. HAS also partners with the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo and the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement. As part of the Texas Aerospace Scholars Program, HAS provides the foundation for the Middle School Aerospace Scholars (MAS) and Community College Aerospace Scholars (CAS) Programs.
Students who are interested in participating in HAS must be a junior in high school and nominated by a state legislator. For more information about the HAS Program, visit: http://aerospacescholars.jsc.nasa.gov/