Meridian Community College: Mission Accomplished: College's NCAS Session Offered Virtual Learning

Press release from Meridian Community College:

December 14, 2021

The teams accomplished their missions – Meridian Community College’s NASA Community
College Aerospace Scholars Program (NCAS) teams. 

NCAS is NASA’s only STEM outreach program intended exclusively for community college
students, and MCC serves as a host site for the national program. MCC has participated
in the NCAS program since Fall 2018.  During 2019 and 2021, MCC hosted NCAS career
simulation events, one of only 11 community colleges nationwide to host such events.
 

For this past session, 11 students participated under the College’s auspices. Those
students included Joy St. Clair, Caleb Clearman, Michael Chaney, Peyton Sheehan, Kavitaben
Chaudhari, Morgan Marlow, Justin Moore, Nolan Yates, Adrian Dobbs, Jessica Harder
and Heather Lovell.

Valerie Bishop, dean of institutional effectiveness, and Dr. Angie Carraway, chemistry
instructor, division chair and the Mississippi NASA Space Grant Campus coordinator,
have spearheaded this effort. They were impressed with this year’s efforts, especially
because of the pandemic. “The group got, in some ways, a more realistic introduction
to the way workforce can work,” Dr. Carraway said. 

Working virtually, the participants formed 11 teams to create a company where they
arranged a company infrastructure, assigned responsibilities, managed a budget, and
developed communications and outreach strategies. And because it was conducted virtually,
they had to coordinate with team members who lived in different time zones, who were
from different cultures and backgrounds. “They had to overcome challenges like internet
access from home… the virtual environment offered a different skill set,” Dr. Carraway
said. 

In addition to working with different people from around the country, the team members
had less than five days to develop the project. “It was a pretty substantial project,”
Dr. Carraway added. 

MCC sophomore Joy St. Clair, one of the student participants, agreed. “It was a lot
more work than I expected, but it was fun,” she said, noting that her fellow team
members learned to work with one another with success. “It’s probably the most functional
team I’ve ever been on; very professional,” St. Clair said. 

She also gained in other ways. “You meet people from across the country with similar
interests. I have five friends in California now. I’ve got one in Oklahoma, and we
still talk to each other,” she said. 

And for her efforts, St. Clair received a medallion for the employee of the week,
which the team’s mentor chose.  

Caleb Clearman, another MCC sophomore and participant, added, “I had people from all
over the country on my team. It was a great experience to meet new people.” 

Michael Chaney also enjoyed the collaboration. “Each team gave others encouragement…
they were not looking at us as rivals, but as colleagues.” 

This press release was produced by Meridian Community College. The views expressed here are the author’s own.