More than 30 Stewart Middle Magnet students inducted into the Aerospace Academy Honors Society

Aerospace Academy Honors Society inducts students

FOX 13 Photojournalist Travis Anthony highlights Stewart Middle Magnet School students in St. Petersburg that were inducted into the Aerospace Academy Honors Society at the St. Pete History Center.

ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. - More than 30 students from Stewart Middle Magnet School were inducted into the Aerospace Academy Honors Society at the St. Pete History Center on Friday. The academy teaches students about the latest information in science, engineering and space technology.

"So many of these kids, we have almost over 80 kids in this program, and you have to have a kind of passion for space and aviation or astronomy, and so we like to give them, expose them to authentic learning experiences," said retired Lead Teacher Emeritas, Lynn McDaniel.

Students were also joined by Nicole Stott, a veteran NASA astronaut. She worked for NASA as an engineer for 10 years before being selected into the Astronaut Office. Stott worked at the office for 15 years in Houston, Texas, and 104 of those days were spent flying in space.

READ: How a St. Petersburg museum is helping tell the city's story

"When they can come together like this, and I can have some kind of exchange with them, it's really... I, I don't know, It means a lot to be a part of what we need to be doing when we come back from space," said Stott.

By involving teachers from the program and hosting astronauts who have had firsthand experience, it allows students to enhance their knowledge and awareness of the space technology that is involved in this program.

"They've made heart stem cells, they're doing cancer research, they're doing Parkinson's research, so we want our students to know that you don't have to be an astronaut, but you could be a research scientist, you can go into these fields and reach for the stars," McDaniel added.

Stewart Middle School is the only NASA explorer school on the West Coast. The school allows students to have the ultimate experience of focusing on science, technology, engineering and math.

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