Delbarton Teen Takes Flight at Space Camp

In about the same era as the wildly popular television series Mad Men, every kid went through a phase of wanting to be an astronaut.

NASA’s retirement of the space shuttle may have dampened the enthusiasm of some of today’s kids for careers in space, but the space camps run at the U. S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, AL., are still popular with teens.

The Leadership Institute runs two five-day programs for the teenage offspring of employees, and one of the participants was Brian Walsh, a junior at .

Brian said Honeywell posted an application form online, and he filled it out and answered several essay questions. Honeywell looked at essays, grades, extracurricular activities and other factors, he said.

The camp coincided with the first week of Delbarton’s two-week spring break, Brian said, so he counted himself lucky that he didn’t have to miss a week of classes during his important junior year.

And, he said, he learned a lot at the space camp.

Huntsville has a space shuttle simulator. The campers were divided into two teams. Brian was on the mission control team.

“They threw us challenges,” he said, adding that when something goes wrong in the shuttle, mission control has to walk the astronauts through a solution, Brian was flight director (think Ed Harris as Gene Cernan in Apollo 13).

There was also a flight simulator, and Brian got to “fly” Air Force One.

Guest speakers are a part of the Honeywell institute. Mark Duran, author of “Black Hawk Down” told the students about strength in adverse situations.

Another speaker was from Virgin Galactic, Brian said. The company’s goals are to “get everyone in space eventually,” he said The idea, Brian said, is to get the price low enough that everyone can afford to take a space shuttle to the moon or Mars. The kids took away from that talk to never give up on their goals, he said.

Each participant in space camp has a mentor to help him or her develop leadership skills, including public speaking.

One of the best aspects of the camp is meeting new people from all over the world, Brian said. Campers came from across the country and from abroad. Modern technology enables them to stay in touch through Skype.

“We talk about issues from stem cell research to future moon landings,” Brian said. “Everyone has their own views, but we respect each other.”

He said the teens bring each other new perspectives.

Brian said he has thought about being an astronaut, but is more interested in designing rockets or planes. He is considering a future with NASA or one of the private agencies now working on space flight. His interest was first piqued when he toured Cape Canaveral, but this Honeywell Leadership Institute made him more serious about space flight.

Like most of the students at the space camp, Brian is interested in what are known as the STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and math, but he considers himself well-rounded.

Among his extracurricular activities, Brian in the robotics program. He also is manager of Delbarton's varsity soccer team and has gone on service trips. He will venture to Tanzania this summer for another service project. He is also a Junior Dean. Junior Deans work with younger students to help create a sense of brotherhood.