GSC student selected to visit Johnson Space Center

GAINESVILLE - Gainesville State College (GSC) student John Luecke of Commerce has been selected to travel to NASA's (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) Johnson Space Center in Houston October 20-22 to participate in a three-day on-site event.

Luecke has been selected as one of 89 community and junior college students from across the nation to be part of the National Community College Aerospace Scholars program. Students completed four Web-based assignments during the school year, maintaining a 93 average to qualify for the experience. They will apply what they have learned during the year to work with NASA engineers.

Luecke does not fit into the traditional mold of a college student, as he is the father of three children and works a fulltime job. Currently majoring in Engineering, he earned his Geographic Information Systems Certificate from GSC this past summer and will participate in graduation this December. Luecke ultimately plans to transfer to the Georgia Institute of Technology as part of the Regents Engineering Transfer Program where he will major in Aerospace Engineering. Luecke maintains a 3.7 GPA, is a member of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, was named to the College's Merit List, and is a HOPE Scholarship recipient.

The program is a three-day on-site event at Johnson and offers students from across the nation the opportunity to interact with each other as they learn more about careers in science and engineering. While at Johnson, students form teams and establish fictional companies interested in Mars exploration. Each company is responsible for developing a prototype rover, designing a line drawing of the rover, and forming the company infrastructure, including budget, communications, and presentations.

The on-site experience at Johnson includes a tour of facilities and briefings by noted NASA employees-including astronauts.

National Community College Aerospace Scholars is a program based on Texas Aerospace Scholars, originally created by the state of Texas in partnership with NASA and the Texas educational community. Both programs are designed to encourage community and junior college students to enter careers in science and engineering and ultimately join the nation's highly technical workforce.

With this program, NASA continues the agency's investment in educational programs that attract and retain students in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, disciplines critical to NASA's future missions.

For additional information, please contact Deborah Hutchings, National Community College Aerospace Scholars program manager at 281-483-8623 or [email protected]. For more information, please visit their website at: .