When Mission 16 heads to the International Space Station this spring, it will contain a mission patch - similar to what astronauts wear on their sleeves - designed by a Stephen and Harriet Myers Middle School seventh grader.
In February, students at all three of the district's middle schools and Albany International Center were encouraged to a create a patch, electronically or on paper, as part of the Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP). Thirty-three district students submitted 106 designs and after a blind evaluation by an internal team of teachers and administrators, Myers' Layla Sasson's was chosen.
When asked if she was proud, happy or excited to be chosen, Sasson responded, "All three," adding that projects like this encourage kids to do more in science.
Sasson's patch isn't the only work by district students to depart the earth's atmosphere, however. An experiment proposed by a team of eighth-grade scientists at William S. Hackett Middle School will also be on board Mission 16.
There are 23 communities across the country sending experiments in mini-labs up to the International Space Station as part of this year's SSEP.
The patch designs were accompanied by a brief rationale. The following is what Sasson submitted:
The reason why I chose to design my logo like this is because I wanted it to be unique from the other ones. Additionally, I wanted to incorporate the color green because that's the color of nature. Nature is such an important part of science. Nature is an indescribable part of this world and something isn't known to exist anywhere else but earth.
The district recognized Sasson on Thursday, during her science class with teacher Cheryl Backman.
"We are excited to continue the experimental (STEM) and mission patch design (STEAM) elements of the Student Spaceflight Experiment program next year and to grow our student participation even further," said Amanda Powers, the district's Secondary Science and STEM Initiatives Instructional Supervisor.
