North Springs Students Shine at Summer Programs

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Three North Springs Spartans spent part of their summer in unique programs that put into practice NSCHS’s focus on rigor, relevance, relationships and results:

AVID 10th grader Nirelys Rohena was chosen to attend Camp HOPE, a special 3-day camp for Hispanic youth. She was also chosen to attend R2L NextGen (Ready to Lead Next Generation) a special-week long leadership program in Washington DC, sponsored by CHCI - the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute.

The only girl among three Georgia teens selected, Nirelys learned about laws, voting, visited historic sites and met members of Congress; but it was the relationships she developed that made the greatest impact.

“Learning about each other, the journey we’ve all taken to get a better education, and how we can help our communities was amazing and inspirational,” she said.

Senior Kevin Santillan was one 68 students chosen from over 3,000 applicants to attend MIT’s 6-week MITES program (Minority Introduction to Technology, Engineering and Science) on the MIT campus. His rigorous classes included Calculus 2, physics 2, chemistry, humanities and project-based Genomics.

It was a “really big growing experience,” that he says pushed him academically and challenged him to consider that he, like his fellow MITES classmates, “are here to change the world.”

As a result of work in his Genomics class, he was selected to help introduce Dr. Eric Lander, founder of MIT and Harvard’s Broad Institute and principal leader of the Human Genome project. Kevin will be applying to MIT among other schools this fall to pursue his passion in material science.

Ninth-grader Demario Sequeira is a member of a team of local students who participated in year-round tutorials introducing them to advanced STEM concepts, critical thinking and research projects.

He and his team submitted a proposal to the European Space Agency (ESA) to point their orbiting Mars spacecraft at the Martian Southern Polar Cap and image it. Collaborating with engineers using Google Hangouts, they were sent raw photos.

Demario and the team then downloaded, learned and implemented various simulation and image processing software to convert and process the raw images into beautiful displays of the Martian South Pole. The group’s final presentation has been submitted to the ESA website.

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Photo 1: North Springs’ sophomore Nirelys Rohena and freshman Demario Sequeria. Nirelys was one of about 70 students from across the US selected to attend CHCI’s teen leadership program in Washington DC in July. Demario and his team submitted a proposal to the European Space Agency, bringing images of Mars to Earth. It was accepted, along with 19 others from students across the globe.
Photo 2: North Springs’ senior Kevin Santillan with AP Physics teacher Zach Luna who wrote a recommendation for Kevin’s application to attend the MITESprogram. Kevin learned about the opportunity through NS’ Community Liaison, Isabel Palazzolo.
Photo credits: North Springs Charter High School