North Allegheny students place 2nd in Stellar Xplorers National Space Design Competition

A team of five North Allegheny High School students placed second in the finals of the Stellar Xplorers National Space Design Competition, a national contest organized by the Air Force.

The North Allegheny Air Force Junior ROTC team was one of 10 finalists — whittled down from 350 teams — who traveled to Houston to compete in the final round April 21-23. Teams have to tackle a scenario about launching satellites, brief a panel of experts about their solution to the scenario and take an individual quiz to test their knowledge of the topic.

The NA team — consisting of sophomores Kylie Walk, Conor Griffin and Jacob Collins and juniors Charlie Pallerino and Dean Simon, who serves as team commander — plans to compete again next year.

“There was a lot of intense and very difficult competition,” said Chief Master Sergeant Terry Speer, who organizes the team as part of the school’s Junior ROTC program. “To have come out second out of those 10 groups that were out there is mind-blowing. I’m really proud of them.”

The team competed against students from other public schools, as well as teams from engineering and math schools, Speer said.

During their trip to the finals, students got to tour Johnson Space Center, where they were greeted by United States Space Force Astronaut Col. Nick Hague, who presented opening remarks through a pre-recorded video shot at the International Space Station before talking with the students in person.

“It was a real educational adventure,” Speer said.

The students also toured two civilian aerospace industry companies, Speer said.

The day of the competition, the students were presented with “a real-world future problem as we try to go to Mars,” he said.

“The scenario was for them to set up satellite operations around the moon so they could create a reliable communications link to the moon, and then later to Mars,” Speer said.

They then had to brief experts on their solution the next day.

“They were busy, lots of pressure, but in the end, they got second place, a beautiful trophy, and each of them are going to receive a $2,000 educational grant,” Speer said. “There was a lot of opportunity for them to hear about their role in the future of humans in space.”

Students got to meet experts in the field, he said, and make contacts that could help them in their careers. Walk wants to become an Air Force pilot, while others want to go into engineering, forensic science and aerospace science, Speer said.

“(Walk) said that success in this competition made her really believe it’s possible for her, gave her that sense of confidence,” Speer said. “The contacts you make, the doors that open up to you, that’s important.”