by KIM HILSENBECK
If any of Zoe Flynn’s teachers at Chapa Middle School ask for essays on summer vacation fun, she should have no problem producing one. She did something only a small percentage of students have ever done – and she had a blast (off) doing it.
In late June, Zoe, who turns 12 later this month, spent a week at Space Academy, which is part of Space Camp at NASA’s U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
“It was awesome,” she said.
A shy young lady, Zoe said she found two older friends at camp who attended before. They showed her the ropes and helped her get through the first few days, which she said were a little scary.
Space Camp, founded in 1982 as an education program to promote the study of math, science, and technology, couples classroom instruction with hands-on activities and teaches teamwork, decision-making, and leadership.
More than 600,000 students and adults have attended since the program began.
Getting there was no moonwalk. She had to submit an application that included a written essay on why she wanted to attend. To raise half of the $1,000 camp fee, Zoe and her dad sold homemade salsa. She also earned a $100 scholarship toward the camp by designing a spacesuit patch.
During her time at Space Academy, Zoe participated in flight simulations, acted as a commander and a flight director during space shuttle missions and learned about science experiments in space.
As flight director, she was in charge of the mission on the ground. Think, “Houston, we have a problem.” Zoe was Houston.
Zoe’s mom, Debra Flynn, an art teacher at Lehman High School, said as a second grade student, Zoe sparked an interest in space and space flight that never diminished.
“It’s been aerospace engineer forever,” Flynn said, regarding what Zoe says she wants to do when she grows up.
That focus and passion for outer space served her well.
Zoe, who is in the Gateway to Technology program at Chapa, spoke to an astronaut in the space shuttle two years ago as it traveled over Lehman High School. The Gateway program is part of Hays CISD’s Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) curriculum.
Her favorite part of Gateway is the engineering piece. Her teacher was a civil engineer.
Zoe is in Chapa’s Gifted and Talented program, UIL Number Sense and UIL Art, and earned first chair honors in band. She’s in Art Club and has participated in the Hays Honor Choir. This active pre-teen is also a Dance Unlimited five-year member. She volunteers for community events, including Empty Bowls, Youth Art Month and Light the Night.
As a trainee at Space Academy, Zoe experienced walking on the moon in a 1/6th gravity chair and felt what it’s like to work in a frictionless environment in a Manned Maneuvering Unit. Her team also built and launched a two-stage model rocket and learned about teamwork at the leadership reaction course.
She also met an astronaut, who helped with the graduation ceremony for the campers. Zoe said he flew on four missions to outerspace.
During graduation, she wore an authentic blue space suit, provided by NASA and complete with patches.
She had four roommates who shared a dorm, called a habitat. They didn’t sleep standing up, but instead had the same kind of bunk beds found here on earth – she got a top bunk. Zoe said she’s already staying in touch with her friends from camp, who hail from all across the country.
She wants to attend the camp next year. The food was okay.
“They had Dippin’ Dots everywhere,” she said.
Dippin’ Dots are supposed to be how astronauts eat ice cream in space.
Her favorite thing about Space Academy was the 1/6th gravity chair simulator. The only thing she wouldn’t do again is the aviation challenge.
“It’s too much like the military,” she said.
