City sends kids to space camp City sends kids to space camp (July 27, 2001)

Kris Resellmo

The city of Mountain View awarded scholarships to 45 local children to attend the Space Camp, Space Academy and Aviation Challenge this summer.

Students enrolled in Space Camp and Space Academy are encouraged to study math and science through participation in a simulated astronaut training. Space Camp is for 9-year-olds in fourth grade, and Space Academy is for 12- to 14-year-olds. Aviation Challenge offers pilot training children in the same age groups.

The scholarships are part of an agreement the city has with the U.S. Space Camp Foundation. The agreement calls for 50 scholarships, but Alex Terrazas, assistant to the city manager, said that the selection committee only received 40 complete applications this year. Applicants had to fill out a form and write an essay.

The 40 children sent to Space Camp California did their five-day course at Moffett Field. The students sent to Space Academy or Aviation Challenge could go to Space Academy in Mountain View, or Huntstville, Ala. Aviation Challenge is held in Atwater.

Students from 13 local schools received scholarships to attend Space Camp, including: Buddy Bello Briley, Joseph Cree, and Ilya Prokofyev from Crittenden Middle School; Catherine Augello, Dominique Broussard, Robert Farmer, and Iris Malone from Graham Middle School; Jonathan Lo, Megan McConnel, Kimberly McCord, Melod Mehdipur, and Jonathan Torres from Bubb School; Mayuri Bhakta, Tommy Flegel, Gerardo Lopez, Neeharika Palaka, Michael Sandoval, and Gilberto Soria from Castro School; Maria Chimishkyan, Rachel Cohen, Casey Corman, John Doolittle, Saskia Lee, and Gregory Sue from Huff School; Katie Grime, Sven Lehti, Marco Leone, Brandon Sawyer, and Carlos Villacis from Landels School; Monica Datta, Elliott Davis, and Cesar Escobar from Monta Loma School; Maris Kali from Theuerkauf School; Nicholas Gelman from Almond School; Sheena Kamineni from Vargas Elementary School; Joseph Lih, Yichuan Peng, and Jade Shi from Santa Rita School; Alison Hart from St. Simon School; and John Povolny from St. Stephen School.

Scholarships to attend Space Academy or Aviation Challenge went to Kevin Feaster, April Harnett, Kenneth Hendersen, Joshua McGee, and Kelley Paulick.