Out of this world: HLC students are jetting off to ‘space camp’

Two Telford secondary school students are quite literally being given the chance to reach for the stars after securing places at a NASA space camp in America.

Harry Yeung and Esmae-Hope Morton from the Hadley Learning Community are jetting off to Hunstville, Alabama for six days from July 6-11, thanks to an innovative project to inspire and motivate young explorers.

STEM co-ordinator and subject leader of computing and IT at the school, Natalie Stewart, will be accompanying the year eight pupils. She said everyone was extremely excited about the opportunities the camp would bring.

“Harry and Esmae-Hope have been chosen as they are taking part in the Blue Skies programme run by Jon Egging Trust which supports young people through the prism of STEM and aerospace.

“The programme is a three-year STEM-inspired syllabus which provides young people who face barriers to learning with long-term support and access to inspirational teams and individuals.

“The aim is to boost their confidence, academic engagement, aspiration and work-readiness.

“And now, thanks to the sponsorship of Northrop Grumman who are a platinum partner at JET and a key sponsor of the Space Camp, our students will get the chance to travel to camp.”

At the camp, Harry and Esmae-Hope will join other students to train like astronauts and learn to work as a team by solving challenging obstacles to ultimately return home safely during their team mission.

The mission of the camp is to be the foremost source for authentic, inspiring and entertaining experiences in space science and aviation while involving STEM activities and education.

It was created in 1982 to inspire and motivate the next generation of explorers, scientists, teachers and engineers, and the six-day programme will also include a tour of the Rocket Park and the US Space and Rocket Centre.

Natalie said: “We’re very grateful to Jon Egging Trust and the sponsors who have made this trip possible – Harry and Esmae-Hope have been selected to take part as we believe they are students who have the potential to be high achievers, and we hope the trip will inspire them with their future career choices.”

Jon Egging Trust is a youth work charity set up in honour of Flt Lt Jon Egging, who lost his life while completing a display at the Bournemouth Air Festival.

He was coming to the end of his first year with the world-famous Royal Air Force Aerobatic Team – the Red Arrows – flying in the position of Red 4. 

Pic: Esmae-Hope Morton and Harry Yeung preparing for their NASA trip