RCC students have opportunity to learn from NASA experts

NCAS (NASA Community Colleges Aerospace Scholars) wants to connect Robeson Community College to NASA and help develop students at RCC into successful leaders.

“NCAS is a unique activity exclusive to community college students within the United States,” said Maria Chambers, education coordinator at NASA Langley Research Center. “NCAS helps community college students make connections between their degree programs and NASA career opportunities, while motivating students to participate in other competitive NASA activities, internships, and fellowships.”

The program builds a diverse future STEM workforce by engaging two-year degree seeking students in authentic learning experiences. It opens doors for students seeking a STEM degree by offering three unique experiences. Scholars get a closer look at NASA’s unique missions and research and learn how to develop their talents, interests, and passion to become future STEM professionals by participating in one of three missions.

The three missions include Mission 1: Discovery, Mission 2: Engage, and Mission 3: Explore.

During Mission 1, students will have the opportunity to discover NASA’s research and missions through a guided online experience during a 5-week self paced online course. Students who successfully complete Mission 1 may receive an invitation to participate in the next mission, in which they will learn about the engineering design experience. During this stage of the game, students will compete in a STEM engineering design challenge, network with diverse STEM workforce and collaborate with like-minded students in a team environment. Those selected after completion of Mission 2 will go on to contribute to NASA’s missions by developing possible solutions to current challenges the organization is facing, onsite, at a NASA center. Students will have an opportunity to job shadow and gain exposure to university campuses.

“We rely on faculty members… to reach community college students from a diverse set of disciplines and encourage them to take the next big step in their journey. NCAS encourages students from STEM, non-STEM, and technical majors alike to apply,” said Chambers.

Chambers says there are a number of reason why being a part of NCAS is important for Robeson Community College and its students, including:

– NCAS strengthens the campus STEM community.
– NCAS supports the campus retention rate by offering possible internship and job opportunities for your students.
– NCAS motivates students to complete their two-year degree and further pursue a four-year degree.

RCC students from all disciplines and majors are encouraged to register and apply to NCAS at https://go.nasa.gov/ncas. The application for NCAS is open until April 6, 2022 and will close that day at 3:00 p.m. EST.

For students interested in learning more, an information session just for RCC students has been scheduled for Wednesday, March 23 at 12:00 p.m. at this link: https://tinyurl.com/RCC-NCAS

NCAS will be holding additional information sessions for students who are not able to attend on March 23 that are open to community college students nationwide. Those sessions will be held on March 15 at 2:00 p.m., March 24 at 6:00 p.m., and April 1 at 3:00 p.m. via this link: https://go.nasa.gov/ncasinfo.

All currently enrolled RCC students are invited to attend any of the information sessions that fit into their schedules.