DODGE COUNTY, Ga. — If you drive by Dodge County High School, you may see a huge NASA sign displayed on their marquee.
Their students are the only ones in the state allowed to work on special projects for the space agency, which makes them our School of the Week!
Whether it's making food or creating sturdy equipment, when it comes to space travel, DCHS students are learning that every detail counts.
"NASA sends us projects to do and they give us instructions, restrictions, information," said sophomore Angelica Valdez.
"It has to be something that travels well in space, that packages well, that doesn't make too many crumbs so that everything goes together as planned," said senior Jessica McGill.
Dodge County High is the only school in the state to partner with the High Schools United with NASA to Create Hardware, known as the HUNCH program.
Ashley Jones teaches food science, and James Dix instructs the engineers.
"Obviously food is not usually what you think about when you think about hardware, but the astronauts were complaining because they had to eat the same boring foods over and over, so they had the idea at NASA just to use some high school students to come up with some new ideas," Jones said.
"NASA gives us tasks that we have to do and all they give us are what we can't do, they don't tell us what we can do. So, it's up to the students to be able to develop the process and do the research and come up with solutions that meet their criteria," Dix said.
The idea came from local Chamber of Commerce president Charles Williams three years ago.
"Not only do they have an opportunity to learn from NASA engineers while they're in high school and put that on a resume, they have an opportunity to get good paying jobs right here in this same community, so it's just such a fit," Williams said.
"College applications? Putting that on there? That like we're partnered with NASA on projects? [It's a] pretty good thing to add," said junior Zoey Durden.
The students' projects are evaluated by NASA officials and could be used in their space missions.
In 2016, the food science students' meal placed 8th out of 200 schools in a nation-wide competition.
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