Space Prize Winners Experience Station Simulation, Zero-G Flight
Finalists from across NYC worked together to simulate operating an international space station.
By JIA YU WU, LEQIAN YU, and BELINDA YONG
Imagine this: gravity disappears and you are able to push off of the floor and float away like you’re in outer space. Your body lifts off the ground as you slowly float around the aircraft, experiencing true weightlessness.
That’s what Space Prize winner Maya Kushnick ‘23 will experience on May 28 when she participates in a Zero-G training flight. She will also be paired with a female space mentor during her senior year of high school.
“I've never won something like this before,” said Kushnick. “I just feel very thankful because it is such a cool opportunity.”
Kushnick was one of five female finalists for the prize from Midwood. The others were Regina Hoxha 22, Jinyu Xu ‘23, and sophomores Grace Chen and Caroline Pychynski.
The Space Prize Competition, held by the Space Prize Foundation, is designed to encourage STEM education and careers in space among female high school students from NYC public schools. These have historically been male-dominated fields.
The Space Prize Foundation partnered with a school from each of the city’s five boroughs: The Bronx’s Young Women's Leadership School, Manhattan’s New Explorations into Science Technology and Math (NEST), Queens’s Bayside High School, Staten Island’s Tottenville High School, and Midwood.
The contest consisted of two rounds. In round one, students had to write a 1,000 word essay. Teachers in Midwood’s English Department selected the five finalists from 32 submitted essays. Being a finalist shocked but excited many of the girls.
“Finding out that I was one of the top finalists was a really good feeling to know,” said Pychynski. “I didn’t think that I would be able to get this far into the contest.”
“I wanted to try something new, get out of my comfort zone,” said Kushnick. “I like writing a lot. I like the idea of space because it's so new and unexplored. And I loved sci-fi growing up.”
“I was really surprised when my essay was chosen,” said Xu. “I put a lot of work in, but there were also a lot of other essays, so it was definitely a little shocking.”
“I joined the contest because I have a great interest in STEM and space exploration,” Xu added. “I loved how they had a mission of empowering young girls and women to go into STEM.”
According to ScienceAlert.com, only about 11 percent of people who have traveled to space are women.
The contest’s purpose is to advance women in STEM and space exploration, which have historically been male-dominated fields.
All the finalists took a trip on March 21 to the NYC Center for Aerospace and Applied Mathematics in Manhattan, where they learned about airplanes through a simulation.
“We got to do an airplane simulation where we flew airplanes electronically, which was fairly difficult but definitely fun!” said Xu. “Afterwards, there was also a mission to Mars flight simulation where they had all the finalists from the five schools work together in the 'mission control room,' which consisted of different jobs in data, medical, and more.”
“For me, the coolest thing was definitely the field trip,” said Chen. “We got to simulate the experience of going to the international space station. It was really cool and solidified why I want to go into this field.”
“[The trip] was really fun and informative,” said Pychynski. “I was always interested in space – the idea of exploring and discovering more and diving into the unknown.”
The students also had their images put on a billboard in Times Square for a non-profit organization that focuses on women representation.
“It was cool to see myself with all the other finalists on a billboard,” said Pychynski.
In round two, the finalists had to create a 90 second video presentation about the meaning of exploration. The video was evaluated by the Space Prize’s judges, some of whom have worked in NASA.
In her original essay, Midwood’s grand prize winner Kushnick wrote about how her trip to Greece meaningfully impacted her perspective on life, and for her video, she related psychology to discovering the unknown.
“I have never won anything like this before,” Kushnick said. “I usually stick to my strengths with writing, history and English, but it’s very cool to be able to try something that was new to me.”
“I’m very proud of her,” said Ms. Suzane Jacobs, the Assistant Principal of English. “With such a strong Med-Sci program, Midwood should be promoting women in STEM. We should be very proud of the next woman on Mars or on the moon.“
In addition to her upcoming zero-gravity flight, Kushnick is also “excited” about the chance to work with an influential woman in the space industry for a year. “Having a mentor can help me strengthen my knowledge in the field,” she said.
Although there was only one grand prize winner, the girls gained a lot out of their experience in the contest, they said.
“I learned a lot,” said Xu. “It was exciting meeting the Midwood finalists for the first time. All the girls definitely deserved it. I watched their videos and it clearly shows how much work and effort they put in to make every second. They are all really great, inspiring people.”
“Even before the contest, I had always planned to go into the field of astrophysics,” said Chen. “But after the contest, especially after the field trip, it really solidified that dream for me. I realized that this is where I belong, this is where I think I would be happiest, and this is what I wish to pursue in college.”