Last school year, I was presented with a unique opportunity to apply for a spot in the Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy at Space Camp in Huntsville, Ala. When I applied, I was sure I wasn’t going to get in, because it was for every Honeywell employee’s kids to apply all over the world.
But that didn’t stop me.
My dad, who works for Honeywell, encouraged me to apply. After weeks of perfecting my application, I finally submitted it. Many months passed with me forgetting I even applied, until June I started to get antsy waiting for a letter to tell me if I was accepted or not.
It was Wednesday, June 5, when I received an email from Honeywell. I reluctantly opened the email, afraid of it saying try again next year but I was greeted with bold letters saying congratulations you have been accepted.
I have recently returned from the program and I really enjoyed it. The first day of the program was a travel day so we really didn’t do anything except going over the rules and settled into our rooms.
The second day of the program we were divided into our “teams.” I was put into team Courage with 13 other people from different states and countries. Throughout the second day, we took group photos and headshots that took up half of the day. The rest of the day, we toured the property, participated in team-bonding activities, and went over more rules for the program.
The third day we had to engineer heat shields for space modules when re-entering the earth’s atmosphere, after that we did the Multi Axis Trainer also known as MAT where you are strapped into a chair that has three rings that rotates in different directions, turning you upside down and in all sorts of directions. I was really nervous at first but after a few seconds, it was so much fun.
After that we had our very first mission. We were assigned tasks and positions on the space shuttle simulator. We were divided up between the command center, space shuttle, and the space stations. I was assigned as Mission Specialist 3, I was in the space shuttle in charge of turning on and off the main engines and resupplying our oxygen tanks, we were successfully going into orbit and we successfully landed after re-entering the earth’s atmosphere.
The fourth day we did a team-bonding activity to build trust in each other. The challenge was to climb up a 30+ foot pole and to stand fully up on a small platform and then jump while your teammates hold the ropes you are harnessed in. Climbing the pole wasn’t difficult, but it was nerve wracking trying to stand up on a small platform while looking straight down. I always had a fear of heights but with my teammates encouraging me I successfully stood up and jumped putting all my trust in their hands. My team walked away from that challenge trusting each other even more.
After that we went to the planetarium where we learned about different galaxies. After dinner that night, we did the ⅙ chair that simulates the gravity on the moon, it was pretty fun but in my opinion not as fun as the Multi Axis Trainer.
The fifth day we had a tour with an engineer through the Davidson Center and learned about all of the cool stuff in there. After we were done with the tour, we had an engineering challenge where you had to build the tallest tower with spaghetti and fit six little plastic army men on it.
Later that night we had our second mission but this time I was Flight Engineer 2 in the space station. My job was to go “outside” the space station with my friend who was Flight Engineer 1 and get lifted up five feet in the air to “repair” the outside walls of the space station.
On the sixth day, we had to launch our rockets that we have been working on the whole week and then quickly get ready for graduation, after graduation we had a dance it was very similar to homecoming but I learned that for my friends in Europe they don’t have school dances, so we all made it a night to remember. That night our last night before going to the dorms we said goodbye to everyone on our team just in case they had an early flight and wouldn’t see them in the morning. That night my roommates and I sat in our room packing — sad to say goodbye.
The next morning half our team was gone, only a few of us remained, as the crew trainers called for the next group of flights we each said goodbye. My two remaining friends and I were in the same group to fly out but to different layovers we had to say our goodbyes at each other’s gates. We knew that we would still be in contact since we exchanged numbers but it was still hard to say goodbye.
The program was really fun and a life-changing experience and I would do anything to go back to camp with my team. I made new friendships and bonds I would have never thought I would make. My friends and I have found a way around time zones to stay in contact. If you ever have a chance to attend Space Camp, do it, you won’t regret it.
