The Cupcakes
“And the winner of the NASA block radiation challenge
is… “
My
heart stopped beating in that moment. I can still remember it like it was
yesterday. It was Makayla, Hannah and me. Just us three cramped in this tiny
room. Camera pointed at us, on the other side of the screen was Astronauts,
engineers, and other people from NASA. Month of hard work we were about to find
out if it was worth it.
“THE CUPCAKES!!!”
My
heart stopped at that moment. I mean I just couldn’t believe we won... Just we
three girls against the whole country and we won. We were so happy, we were screaming, jumping,
running from all the excitement we were holding in. I mean you would too, we
freaking won, over of the whole country, we WON…… I’m guessing you’re probably
confused. So let me go to the beginning.
It
was 6th grade, I was in my 2nd science class of the day.
Why I had two science classes I do not know? The school messed up so I was
stuck in a science a grade ahead of me. Anyways, I walk into class that day to
work on the penguin project I have been working on for what feels like a billion
years. As I’m working this random lady walks in. I being the short span minded
person I am ignores her. I know I know,
not the smartest idea but bare with me. So, I’m cutting out who knows what, and
my teachers tells us to stop. I’m mad. I just want to get this project done. So
me being the over dramatic person I mean, Groans and moans, slams my scissors
down and listen.
“This
class is Ms., Annuas, she will be working with you guys for the next couple
months. She has an opportunity for you guys.
“My teacher says.
“Hi guys, I need you guys to split up into teams of
4-6.”
Everyone
splits into their teams. But my class was a bigger class so there was 3 of us
left over. You can probably guess who.
Go ahead take a guess. ……
The Answer is……… drum roll please.
Makayla,
Hannah and me. Now me and Makayla we have known each other since kindergarten
so I was excited to get to work with her. Hannah on the other hand, was a big
scary 8th grader, we were poor innocent 6th grader. Makayla and I were kind of iffy about this
set up. Ms. Annuas on the other hand took a liking to us. After the teams were
picked, we had to pick what we wanted to do. Everyone took turns picking on
objective of the board. Of course we had to pick last so we got stuck with the
sucky one. Blocking radiation.
Think
about it. How the string cheese do you block radiation. At that point in time I
was ready to block my teacher face with my fist. Skip forward a couple days, after everyone is
separated it teams, gotten to know each other and have already started their
“project.” Us three was still at square 0ne, we haven’t even come up with a
name yet. The other teams had cool names like “rocket ship blaster 900, the
pimp squad,” and we still haven’t came up with ours. After pondering and thinking
of what we can call or team. We decide “The Cupcakes,” why you may ask. Because
all three of us were hungry. I mean could you blame us it was right before
lunch.
Fast
forward, couple weeks later, we had all the work done. Which was testing to see
which material best blocked radiation. We are in are recording our presentation. Our presentation consist of us three in this
little closet and a camera. It was a tight squeeze but we made it work. Recording
our presentation was a little nerve racking. We only have less than 3 minutes
to fit a month worth of work in. I was so nervous recording the video. We
messed up many times. By many I mean a lot. It probably took us at least 3
hours.
Once
we got the video finished and edit. We uploaded it, then the waiting game was
on. We waited for weeks wondering if we made It or not. After waiting a couple
weeks we just figured we did make it. But waking into class that day was a
totally surprise waiting for us. We made it we were one of the two teams
picked.
A
few weeks later we, are ready for the live stream. Everyone was waiting in the
health room while we talked with the people. Multiply new channel were there
covering us for a story. We are in the
same room where we recorded our video. But, instead there was the people.
Astronauts, engineers, and many other important people. It’s crazy to think
they wanted to talk to us. There was
other people who had to presentation to them too. Students from all over the
country where in the chat. Waiting for their turn to talk to the people about
all the work then have done, what they have discovered. We were the last group
to go. We waited patiently for the other teams to present. Each team had 20
mins to talk with the people. Tell them about what they discover, why they did
what they did, and how this disseverment would be help full to them. Finally we
were up.
We
first started by introducing ourselves. I remember it like it was yesterday.
“HI, im Elizabeth
but you can call me Lizzie.”
Hi, im Hannah.”
“HI, im Makayla.”
Then
we went into out explanation. We were so excited that we made it this far. We
talked about the different material we tested,
how much fun we had, and how difficult but cool it was for us. After we have talked, it was their turn to ask
questions. They asked us a lot of question. I could tell they liked us, they
asked alto of questions. Unlike they did for the other teams.
After
all the questions is done, the stream is ended. We move out to the room to talk
to our families. Then suddenly, the news has an announcement. Time froze. MY heart stopped beating. Then
they said it, we won. I still can’t believe we actually won.
I
run over to Makayla and Hannah. We group hug for 5 billion years straight. I
meant we can’t believe we actually won.
After all the tears and congratulation. We find out we won a trip to
Florida to the NASA Park down in Atlanta. That was probably the best weekend of
my life. We got to have lunch with an actual astronaut. Go to the launch site where actual rocket
ships shot off. It was amazing. We also got to go to SeaWorld. It was so much
fun, running around with my two best friends.
I
still can’t believe us actual won from everyone in the entire country of people
who participated. It was an amazing opportunity and im grateful that I got to
experience it. Getting to know Makayla
and Hannah better was exciting and joyful. Even though it may have not started
how I planned it to or it didn’t go my way. It eventfully turned into a great
experience. I am great full for the opportunity and pleased with the result. I
learned a great deal about space and past space explorations. The whole thing
together is still like a dream to me. Im happy that I won and got to go through
with it till the end.
It sounds like you and you're friends put in a lot of time on this project probably a lot more than most people would put in way to stick it out!
ReplyDeleteGreat story bro.
ReplyDelete