ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. — The global aerospace industry is projected to grow significantly, with estimates ranging from more than $400 billion this year to upwards of $1 trillion in 10 years.
As that growth continues, Hillsborough County Public Schools is making sure students are ready.
What You Need To Know
On Friday, 70 students from Stewart Middle Magnet School were inducted into the John Glenn Top Gun Academy Aerospace Honor Society
Stewart Middle Magnet School is a NASA Explorer STEM school
Students heard from a Blue Origin representative and a real astronaut
On Friday, students from Stewart Middle Magnet School were inducted into the John Glenn Top Gun Academy Aerospace Honor Society at the St. Pete Museum of History.
The students were already comfortable in their blue flight suits.
“We want them to start training early, in terms of their interests, so they can start learning more — maybe taking more advanced classes when they get to high school, and kind of preparing them for the future in the areas of STEM because it’s very desperately needed in our country,” said Stewart Middle Magnet School lead teacher emeritus Lynn McDaniel.
McDaniel said the school is a NASA Explorer STEM school, and regardless of where students interests may lie, teaching them about STEM and how it’s used in space provides options.
“I like space, but I prefer the ground more,” eighth grader Grayson Luke said. “I’m more interested in engineering and how everything works.”
Students even heard from a Blue Origin representative and a real astronaut, Nicole Stott. And even for students like Grayson who prefer to be firmly planted on Earth, McDaniel said the opportunities are endless.
“There’s careers in aerospace for them, they don’t all have to be astronauts,” McDaniel said. “There’s engineering, there’s space medicine, so we’re giving them experiences in all of that.”
McDaniel said she hopes experiences like Friday’s will encourage students to later pursue careers that are out of this world.