Northwest Aerospace News August | September Issue No. 10 | Page 29

A
variety of students at North
Idaho STEM Charter Academy
will participate in this project
throughout its mission. Some start
as early as eighth grade and stay
on the program throughout high
school while others may join for a
year or two.
They have set up job titles and
descriptions and the students are
responsible for the fulfillment of
their roles. Justin Kugler has been
with the team for three years and
is graduating in May 2019. “I
started as the spacecraft systems
lead; it was my job to know
what was going on with satellite
development, our communication
team, and manufacturing partners.
I have moved on to co-heading
the student function of the team.”
Justin is attending Embry-Riddle
Aeronautical University to pursue
aeronautical science.
Another student, Samantha
Schroeder, is a co-lead on ground
communications. “I’m the one
working with the ground station
and tracking the satellite.” She
is a freshman and hopes to gain
skills from hands-on learning
with the DaVinci Program.
Madelyn Zilm is another student
who said, “Our main goal is
‘Lighting up minds around the
world.’” She is responsible for
social media planning — commu-
nication with mentors, teachers,
and space ambassadors. She said
they don’t communicate with the
other nine partners directly, but
they do hear from them on the
regular NASA calls.
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