By: Md Arifur Rahman
e High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware (HUNCH) Program has partnered with student teams to challenge them to make critically-valued products for NASA. Each year, the quality, quantity and diversity of products has improved and expanded as indicative of the growing number and diversity of products has improved and expanded as indicative of the growing number and diversity of students involved. Over 500 classroom programs in middle schools and high schools partnered with mentors from NASA centers across the country to develop unique solutions. This program brought out the best ideas from each center, enabling students to collaborate and present their very innovative ideas at the design reviews. e Program this year included 2000 students from 48 states and from hundreds of schools.
In addition to gaining experience in developing a product, each student can add this challenge work as a bonafide NASA project accomplishment on their future resume. This year’s HUNCH Program included challenges identified by NASA engineers and astronauts who address difficulties while working and living in space. Seven categories of those challenges are: culinary, design and prototyping, biomedical, precision machining, sew flight articles, video, and flight configurations. Many of the past successful projects have included the Galley Table and Stowage Lockers which have flown to, and are used daily, on the International Space Station.
The Booker T. Washington student team tackled a Design and Prototyping project and did very well. Their project addressed an innovative design and testing of tarp stakes to mitigate dust issues on Lunar equipment and clothing. Their concept, along with those from over 90 schools, was evaluated by Elementum 3D, the independent engineering rm, which looked for the top 15 entries but also looked at the diversity of configurations. Elementum 3D then chose the top 5 concepts to print.
The Booker students being commended are: Samuel Johnson, Jared Monreal, Emiliano Navarro, Cameron Johnson, Roberto Constante, Emily Pallares, and Micaiah Hamilton. Well Done! eir dedication to the projects brought honor to the Booker T. Washington community and themselves.
