Winner of  USA Leadership Award at USA Space Camp 

Student Jennifer Simmonds, who previously attended Millais school, has returned home with the prestigious Honeywell Leadership Award, after a very successful trip to Space Camp in the United States.  She was one of only eight UK students lucky enough to attend the Honeywell Leadership Challenge Academy, held at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

Jennifer was incredibly proud of her achievement: “I was really nervous at the ‘Graduation Ceremony’, as it was attended by all the top Honeywell representatives. There were 152 students taking part, so I was surprised and delighted to collect the overall Leadership Award.”

While at Space Camp, Jennifer worked throughout the week with a group of fellow students, taking part in a wide variety of eye opening workshops from rocket building to DNA testing! They were split into teams of 12 and her group included students from Spain, Poland, Czech Republic, England and the United States.

Jennifer explained: “Our team was called ‘Opportunity’ and our knowledge of outer space was tested in a number of  exciting activities, including a visit to the Bio-technology Lab in Huntsville that studies DNA and researches and develops new treatments for common diseases.”

Students at Space Camp also learnt about genetic testing and had to take part in a tricky debate about whether it is or isn’t ethical.  The group also had the interesting experience of extracting DNA from fruit and even had to build their own rocket!

Towards the end of the week students got the chance to ride the ‘Mars simulator’, a machine that gives an accurate idea of what it would be like to be in a moon buggy on the surface of mars!   Jennifer commented: “The Mars Simulator was out of this world! Amazing! Although, it was bit bumpy over the craters!”

Principal, Dr Jackie Johnston, was delighted: “Jennifer is a bright and enthusiastic member of the Collyer’s community and we are all extremely proud of her. She is clearly a star of the future!”