BOERNE, Texas — Editor's note: The video above is from a story done last week.
Boerne Independent School District now has two students headed to NASA. Earlier this month, KENS 5 shared the story of Mia Shayesteh's acceptance into the prestigious program.
Tristan Forks is a junior, like Shayesteh, at Boerne-Champion High School. The two were accepted into NASA's Texas High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) Program. KENS 5's Marvin Hurst shared Shayesteh's success in our KENS 5 original series, Kids Who Make SA Great.
Forks takes AP physics and AP chemistry classes at BCHS. The district said he will work collaboratively with NASA teams to solve real-world problems that NASA engineers can face, such as plotting trajectories and calculating risks.
The HAS program provides interactive lessons on NASA activities related to space exploration, Earth science, technology and aeronautics.
Both students are excited to take on design challenges, such as 3D drawing, video creation and interactive poster design. As part of the program, they will also have virtual chats with NASA engineers and scientists.
The program lasts a year. The first 4 months will be spent online doing different activities and projects they’ll submit. Forks and Shayesteh will have a chance to be a part of a five-day virtual experience, plus attend a two-day onsite visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston during the summer.
The teens follow in the footsteps of last year's juniors at BCHS, Jonathan Segura, Sy Gutierrez and Tyler Dennis, who were also accepted into the same program.
The application to the program opened in August. The deadline to apply is usually in October each year.
To learn more, click here.