Eagle Mountain Saginaw students reach beyond the sky to win aerospace design contest

“The sky’s the limit.”

It’s a common phrase in the world of education

But a current senior and a recent graduate in Eagle Mountain Saginaw ISD have reached beyond the sky in making school district history.

Hollenstein Career and Technology Center (HCTC) aerospace engineering students Kaitlyn Tarr, a 2021 Boswell High School graduate, and Saginaw High senior Braiden Anders led their team to win NASA’s 2021 International Space Settlement Design Competition at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida this summer.

Anders and Tarr are the first EMS ISD students to become international champions.

“I am proud of Kaitlyn’s and Braiden’s hard work during the competition,” said Richard Griffith, Aerospace Instructor at the Hollenstein Career and Technology Center.

“Kaitlynn used her space engineering knowledge and skillfully managed others to work cooperatively to develop a winning product in 24 hours without rest. In that same period, Braiden’s leadership skills allowed his team to reduce manpower, increase security, and manage life sustaining operations on the city-sized space facility.”

EMS ISD students have been selected to represent the United States in each of the district’s seven participating years.

“This win showcases just how talented our students are given the right encouragement and opportunity,” Griffith said.

In April, EMS ISD students competed in the U.S. Championship held at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. Tarr and Anders were placed in the top 12, moving on to the international competition held July 29 -Aug. 2. In the past at this level, HCTC produced 23 national winners selected to attend the international contest.

The international competition included students from the United Kingdom, Canada, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Argentina, Germany, Pakistan, Romania, China, Australia, Tasmania, New Zealand, and India. This year’s competition focused on designing the international space community’s actual goal of terraforming Mars.

The high-pressure contest required students to form mock companies and design a single complex for 18,000 inhabitants. The experience requires students to integrate their knowledge and skills in aerospace engineering, physics, math, chemistry, environmental science, robotics, biology, computer science, writing, speaking, and design.

“It means that I can do it (work on a space station). It’s not just a dream, it’s something I can accomplish,” said Tarr, who currently attends Tarrant Community College to finish basic courses and plans to transfer to Texas A&M to study aerospace engineering. “It clarified that this is something that I want to do for the rest of my life.”

She hopes to one day work on a space station for a Mars settlement.

Anders, likewise, plans to finish basics at TCC before transferring to engineering school at either UT Arlington or Texas A&M for a degree in aerospace engineering.

“This win definitely means a lot to me, but the thing I thought meant the most was the people I got to work with,” he said. “They are the ones I could possibly be working with in the future and they share an aspiring passion like mine.

“ ... My dream career would definitely be aerospace engineering. It’s been a dream of mine since I was young. And I’m excited to see it unfold in front of my eyes.”

This story was originally published November 1, 2021 at 6:00 AM.