On February 25, Legacy Christian Academy hosted a Critical Design Review (CDR) event for the NASA HUNCH program. HUNCH, or High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware, is a nationwide STEM program where NASA identifies real needs for the space program and students have the opportunity to devise solutions, designing and fabricating prototypes of products that could be used by NASA.
Kara Hermogeno, Kevin Mosley, and Dirk Preble got to sign a locker panel that will be sent to the ISS.
During the event, Legacy faculty members Kara Hermogeno, Dean of the School of Engineering and Technology, Kevin Mosley, Associate Head of School, and Dirk Preble, physics teacher and mentor to the Legacy design team, used specially certified Sharpies to sign a locker panel that will be sent to the International Space Station. Students will also get the chance to sign a locker panel if their design is chosen as a finalist for the space program. The HUNCH program is the sole provider of locker panels that are used on the ISS.
Thirteen teams from schools around North Texas brought their ideas and prototypes to LCA to present to a panel of three judges, each other, regional teachers, and students in Principles of Applied Engineering. Two Legacy seniors, Sawyer Snear and Andrew Young displayed their prototype for Lunar Habitat Shoes at the CDR. Over the last six months, Sawyer and Andrew have spent over 50 hours brainstorming and mocking up their design as part of their capstone in the Professional Schools Program in the School of Engineering. Dirk Preble, Legacy’s physics expert, served as the team’s mentor, outlining objectives and deliverables to guide the young men throughout the design process.
Glenn Johnson and Alli Westover of NASA came in from Johnson Space Center in Houston to judge the designs.
Glenn Johnson and Alli Westover from the Johnson Space Center in Houston were on-site to judge the students’ work. Westover shared her vision to “try to touch all different kinds of students. We want to make sure that no student is left behind and has the opportunity to participate in the HUNCH program.” Also on-site to judge the presentations this morning was Johannes Starks from Educate Texas. Starks was the first person to bring the program to the Dallas area when she brought it to iSchool, a STEM academy in Lewisville, in 2015.
Andrew Young and Sawyer Snear present to Glenn Johnson of NASA
The teams today were able to present their original ideas and this phase of presentations is called Critical Design Review. The top teams from today’s presentations as well as the other CDRs happening nationwide could be considered as semi-finalists and then after further review, they could make the finalist list. During CDR, NASA selects national contenders to finish the prototype and possibly file a US provisional patent. NASA will then invite the final 82 teams to the Johnson Space Center in April. During the Final Design Review, those finalists will have the opportunity to present to NASA and/or SpaceX engineers, after which time NASA will decide on final awards and decide how to use these ideas. Though NASA is literally full of rocket scientists, the student teams often bring original and innovative ideas to the table and the HUNCH program has been mutually beneficial to all involved.
Mr. P proudly signs the locker panel that will be sent to the ISS.
Mr. Preble has always had a passion for robotics and engineering. It was through his connection at Best Robotics, Michael Hayes, who also serves as a liaison to the HUNCH Program, that Preble first learned of this potential partnership.
Legacy Christian Academy is Frisco's preeminent Pre-K through 12 Christian school committed to educating students in a college preparatory environment balanced in academics, athletics, and fine arts–all within the context of a biblical worldview. For more information on Legacy, visit our admissions page.