One CASA team from Hickman High School was chosen by NASA as a finalist in HUNCH, or the “High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware” program.
The team, “D-Zero,” is invited to Houston, Texas, to present its design at the Johnson Space Center on April 19 for NASA engineers and astronauts. Only seven other high school teams in the United States have been chosen for this program.
D-Zero is made up of CASA students Max Strode, Gus Lookingbill and Gabe Palmer. The three of them designed and presented a set of magnetic dice in late February for NASA representatives Nancy Hall and Cody Farinacci of the Glenn Research Center in Ohio.
D-Zero along with the other Hickman HUNCH teams have been developing their designs since September.
Engineering and CASA teacher Mike Merz emphasized that “this is real engineering” and that if somebody at NASA finds interest in their idea it may be used in space by NASA astronauts.
Hickman also had a team place as semifinalist, “Project Vulcan” with members Patrick Ryan, Josh Gephardt and Nate Knarr; and another recognized with an honorable mention, “Leo” with Alex Basi, Alex Renoe and Logan Allen.