Seliger Recognizes NASA High School Aerospace Scholar Recipients

AMARILLO, Texas--Today, Senator Kel Seliger recognized eleven high school students from District 31 who have been accepted into the 7th Annual High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) program at NASA's Johnson Space Center. "This program is intended to highlight the interest of motivated young people in the areas of math and science. These students will bring a great deal to this program, and will hopefully come away with much as well," said Seliger.

HAS is an interactive on-line learning experience, highlighted by a six-day internship where selected students are encouraged to study math, science, engineering or computer science by interacting with engineers at the Johnson Space Center. During the school year, scholars will complete several web-based lessons involving a variety of activities including designing upgrades to be used on the Shuttle. The summer internship at the JSC includes participation in hands-on engineering activities and a team project in Mars exploration while being mentored by NASA engineers.

The HAS program was created in 1999 to address the recent declining enrollments in science, technology, engineering and math fields. Through a combination of state, federal and private sector funding, this program encourages Texas high school juniors to explore the possibilities of careers in these fields with space exploration as its central theme. Students from across the state of Texas are selected to participate in the HAS program by their state legislator through a competitive process.

"I hope that this program will be a positive first step for these young people toward a bright and successful future, and I look forward to the contributions they will make to the state of Texas," said Seliger.

The following students from District 31 will be participating in the HAS program next year: Cassandra Brock, Preston Enlow, and Guadalupe Olivas of Hartley, Morgan Cox of Midland (Greenwood High School), Kelly Fine of Dalhart, Wesley Miller of Forsan, Taylor Niehues of Garden City, Daniel Sayers of Canyon (Canyon High School), Addie Treider of Lazbuddie, Raymond Wade of Canyon (Randall High School), and David Washer of Borger.