18-04-2025
Magnet Innovation Center students have an ‘out of this world' conversation with NASA astronaut
WALTON COUNTY, Fla. (WMBB) – Some Walton County students had the rare opportunity on Thursday to speak to those beyond the skies.
One small step for students, one giant leap for Walton County's MIC.
Around a dozen students got to ask astronaut Nichole Ayers two questions about her experience in the great unknown.
'Being able to talk to an astronaut live while they're in space, I think, is an opportunity that's for most people beyond a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' District Chairperson Jason Catalano said.
Ayers has been in the International Space Station for 33 days as part of the SpaceX Crew-10 mission.
For the past two years, students have planned, designed, and built an antenna that would give them a wireless connection to the ISS. Last October, they were selected as one of only six schools to participate in the national call, but connectivity issues arose.
Officials from the Air Force confirmed the issue was not on the part of the students, so NASA granted them a second opportunity to redo the call.
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With a successful connection, students were able to ask questions and hear Ayer's feedback.
Staff said initiatives like this one help motivate students to shoot for the stars.
'I just absolutely love having our students create opportunities like this for themselves, supporting them in it, being successful, and then seeing what it means to them and to their learning as well as to their futures students getting to be part of this contact with an astronaut, I just know that that breathes a second wind into their into their desires. For their futures, for themselves,' MIC Principle Kathryn Benson said.
'I just feel like I don't learn as well whenever I'm sitting there, like staring at a screen or like reading a packet. And I feel like I retain a lot more information, and also feels like so much more personal when I actually get to talk to like another human being about their career. Like, it just feels so special. Like it adds a lot. It helps me learn a lot more,' MIC student Stella Johnson said.
The Magnet Innovation Center is a limited access high school in Watersound that was established by the district in 2019.
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