Lynn students fly high at space center

LYNN – Two Ford School fifth graders are still flying high from their trip to NASA’s John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida where they shared the results of their experiment conducted as part of the Explorer Schools Program.Six students worked together to do a spin-off project of the school’s original micro-gravity project and were the key researchers in a project that fifth graders Yamilka Deleon and Shereena Dormeuil, along with their teacher and Ford’s Explorer Schools coordinator Jennifer McCarthy presented to NASA panelists at the John F. Kennedy Space Center earlier this month.”I am so proud. They did a wonderful job,” McCarthy said. “It definitely took a lot of courage to get up and stand up with strangers in the room and people that work for NASA. I think I would be very nervous knowing that these are real engineers, scientists and rocket scientists, and here they are listening to them share their information. It was very exciting.”Dormeuil said she got chills before presenting, but once she got used to it she just did it.Deleon said she was not nervous about presenting.”I felt pretty confident because we made a lot of new friends and they were just sitting there interested in what we had to say,” she said. “My favorite part of the whole project was working with tinker toys. I felt like a little tiny kid again. We did a prototype of our base, it was pretty cool.”The panelists agreed.KSC education specialist Veronica Franco said the students had very thorough data collection and analysis.”The use of prototype was a great tool to see variables,” she said.Panelist and safety specialist Reneka Ricker said the students did a good job explaining the hypothesis versus the results. She also said building the prototype was brilliant.Dormeuil said it was a good experience.”I liked meeting all the astronauts and meeting so many different people and seeing shuttle launches, rockets and learning more about NASA,” she said. “I met a lot of people like NASA directors and it was a good experience. I feel proud because I never thought I could do it but I did it.”Deleon said she wanted to take part in the project because she thought it was very exciting.”We got so involved in it and we got so excited,” she said. “I really wanted to go to Florida and to actually meet an astronaut, to actually see what it is to be in NASA and to explore and do the stuff that NASA does. It is interesting to me because they are trying to figure out what is beyond earth, if there are other living things and if we are the only planet with life on it.”During their stay, the students had the opportunity to touch moon rocks and a piece of a meteorite scientists believe came from Mars. They also saw the Apollo Capsule, Saturn V Rocket, Mission Control and they took part in a faux shuttle ride.”We were really scared,” McCarthy said. “We didn’t know what we were getting in line for. The astronauts said that it is the most realistic ride, other than an actual shuttle launch, they have ever been on. That was awesome.”While much was learned about science and many new friends were made, McCarthy said the trip made her realize how much she appreciates being from New England.”There were students and teachers from all over the country,” she said. “We met a lot of new friends. For me, I realized how lucky we are to live up here. A lot of them have never seen the ocean, they were all asking what high tide and low tide is, if it is high tide every day at 3, they’re asking about fall and the seasons and do the leaves really change colors. I just think we are lucky to live where we do because we have so much.”McCarthy, Deleon and Dormeuil wanted to recognize Jonathan Kosmas, Dameris Reyes, Deborah Lopez and Noemi Escobar for their hard work on the project that gave them the chance to have these once in a lifetime experiences.