Reaching for the stars
Experience inspires Wendover students to dream the impossible

By Tiffany Erickson
Deseret Morning News

Wendover High junior Manuel Munoz didn't care much about school, let alone college. In the isolated Wendover school, opportunities to boost higher education and career interests can be few and far between.

Student Rafael Mendoza shoots a glider he built at Wendover High, the only NASA Explorer School in Utah and one of only just over 150 nationwide. (Tom Smart, Deseret Morning News)

Student Rafael Mendoza shoots a glider he built at Wendover High, the only NASA Explorer School in Utah and one of only just over 150 nationwide.

But what did pique his interest was a chance to go to Virginia and visit Wallops Flight Facility. That experience of seeing things first hand, including a rocket launch, turned it all around for Munoz.

Now a year later he is serious about high school and wants to go to college and pursue an engineering degree.

And this week he is taking his second trip with members of the NASA Club to see the school's third accepted experiment go up in a rocket.

Wendover High, a Tooele District school with only about 170 students, grades seven through 12, is the only NASA Explorer School in Utah and one of only just over 150 nationwide.

"You don't have to be in a big school to be recognized and do well," said George Middleton, a junior. "We can actually be an example to other schools."
Three years ago Wendover was chosen as one of the first 50 schools to be a part of the NASA educational program. Since then the school has been visited by a handful of astronauts and other professionals, and students have gone on a number of trips that not only show them what NASA has to offer but get them excited about math and science.

The school also got a $17,000 grant for science equipment and other materials.

"The opportunities that the club brings to people have really changed students' minds about how they feel about school in general," said Anne Parsons, NASA Club president. "And it makes you think that if you work hard you can get something out of it — it shows that if you set goals and work towards them, it can make a difference."

Aside from being a part of the exclusive group of schools affiliated with NASA, Wendover has had three experiment proposals qualify to go up in a rocket. This week they will be traveling to New Mexico for the third experiment.

Fewer than a dozen experiments are chosen each year to go up in the rocket.

"Not very many people have actually seen a rocket launch, and we get to be a part of that small group of people who have," said Korbin Murphy, a sophomore.

Students in the club wanted to see how the different atmospheric pressures affect the power of magnets — if they will come back stronger, weaker or the same.

The consensus hypothesis is they will get weaker since they will be taken out of Earth's magnetic field, and that could reduce the power of the magnets.

But sophomore Sean Carter, one of the brains that first proposed the experiment, said he thinks the colder air will condense the magnets, making them stronger.

The rocket's flight will be around 20 minutes before it parachutes back to Earth. Then students will take the magnets back to school and test their theories.

Back at the school they will hold a night to present their experience as well as visit with former astronaut Don Lind on May 8.

Wendover High is a small school with limited opportunities due to its isolation. More than 90 percent of the students come from low-income homes, around 90 percent are minorities and more than 50 percent are learning English as a second language.

But the NASA club has put the school on the map and given students a sense of pride.
And Carolyn Bushman, club adviser and math teacher, said qualifying to go to the launches allows the students to feel successful.

"We don't always score the best on tests, but with these opportunities we can say, 'Hey, look, we are not the ugly stepchild of Utah,"' Bushman said.

Magnets and paper clips like those used in the NASA experiment.

Students in the club all plan to go to college pursuing degrees in aviation, crime scene investigation, software development, video game creation or physical therapy.

Middleton has been accepted into the Governor's Honors Academy at Southern Utah University, a summer program that only accepts 50 outstanding students from the state.
And though Carter is only a sophomore, he is already receiving scholarships.

"This experience is sending the message to kids to dream the impossible, reach for the stars because you can make it, you can reach it," Bushman said.