HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - Students from across Alabama will graduate from the first-ever Space Academy for Leading Alabama Students (S.A.L.S.A.) this Friday, June 3. The 122 students from 71 communities attended the weeklong Space Academy program, which aimed to give Alabama students access to Space Camp’s science, technology, engineering and mathematics education and leadership training.
Middle-school students living in Alabama were eligible to apply for this special Space Camp program, which was funded by the Alabama legislature. Once they applied, state legislators could nominate two students from their legislative district to receive a scholarship to attend S.A.L.S.A. More than 300 students applied for the program, and the scholarship recipients were nominated based on their academic transcripts, a list of extracurricular activities and interests and three essays.
Several Alabama legislators plan to attend the ceremony, which takes place at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Davidson Center for Space Exploration at 11 a.m. Former NASA astronaut Ken Cameron and Josh Laney, Assistant Director for Workforce Development at the Alabama Department of Education, will speak at the S.A.L.S.A. graduation.
Media contact: Pat Ammons, pat.ammons@spacecamp.com; 256-721-5429.
About U.S. Space & Rocket Center
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center, a Smithsonian Affiliate, is home to Space Camp® and Aviation Challenge®, the Apollo 16 capsule, the National Historic Landmark Saturn V rocket and world-class traveling exhibits. USSRC is the Official Visitor Center for NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and a showcase for national defense technologies developed at the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal.