Incoming West Ranch junior Brandon Chang,16, is helping junior high students realize their love for science, one week-long summer camp at a time.
GalaxSea Explorers, a new initiative created by Chang, took place for the first time at Rancho Pico Junior High School from June 3 to 7, teaching 55 junior high students various concepts in science.
Chang applied for a grant through the Dragon Kim Foundation, a nonprofit designed to “inspire youth to impact their communities while discovering and pursuing their passions,” according to its website.
Through the Dragon Kim Foundation’s Fellowship Program, 60 projects out of 519 applicants were chosen to gain mentorship and receive $5,000.
“My mentor was Bryan Le, and he’s an aerospace engineer, which worked out perfectly. There’s also several training weekends in which we learn about leadership, skills, communication, a lot of these important traits that we want to develop as we run our project,” Chang said. “There’s about three training weekends, as well.”
Chang had a broad idea of wanting to teach younger students additional educational elements that otherwise may not have been in the school curriculum.
“I worked with my mentor, and ultimately, I had to come up with a budget for what I was going to do: a curriculum, a workbook, a ton of other stuff like social media, and everything else that needed to be set up,” Chang said. “It was a lot of work getting the materials, getting the word out to get parents and students to sign up, but I think that all culminated really well.”
Along with 13 volunteers, Chang experimented in timing the schedule, students’ engagement with the curriculum and other factors to ensure that the camp was a success.
“I think regardless of a community’s socioeconomic status, space education is a prevalent problem right now, that it simply isn’t accessible to most middle and high school students,” Chang said. “Regardless of your financial status, ethnicity, gender, anyone can make it in the field of space. That’s the message that I wanted to get out to all the students.”
The curriculum for the five days entailed the following concepts:
- Monday: The solar system, with the main activity being a solar system 3D model.
- Tuesday: Flight and aerodynamics, with activities entailing a paper airplane and a bottle rocket launch with vinegar and baking soda.
- Wednesday: Engineering and design process of a three-step mission to Mars, with activities including an egg drop, creating a habitable structure with a marshmallow spaghetti tower and a budget of fake money to spend for a mission.
- Thursday: Moon or Mars settlement design, where students picked roles and fulfilled their duties to ensure a successful mission.
- Friday: Parents came to witness the culminating ceremony, student group presentations and projects to conclude the week.
Catherine Nicholas, principal of Rancho Pico, reflected on the experience her students had during GalaxSea’s first-ever camp.
“Brandon reached out to me with his high school principal, Robert Fisher, and asked if he could send out a flier to our ParentSquare to ask if they were interested in the summer camp,” Nicholas said. “The students loved it. Part of the day was actually teaching a science curriculum about space, science, astronomy, and then the second part was hands-on.”
According to Nicholas, the students not only gained science knowledge, but also confidence in their abilities.
“They made positive relationships with one another. Many of them showed interest in science and astronomy. I think it was a huge positive experience for them and will probably affect them for the rest of their life,” Nicholas said. “I think this will be an asset to our students if he does it again.”
For more information, visit GalaxSea Explorers’ website at galaxseaexplorers.org.
