Freshman Daniel Villalobos had the opportunity to attend Space Academy at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center for a week in Huntsville, Alabama.

  “My teacher, Mrs. Lin from Trail Ridge, was talking about it one day,” Villalobos said.  “She told me I could enroll and get a scholarship.”

   To enroll, Villalobos had to complete two essays and turn them into the U.S. space and rocket center. He was chosen out of 1000 kids to participate.

  According to the press release, the program is designed for people who have an interest in space exploration. Villalobos said he did this program because he wanted to expand his horizons and see what it would be like to be an astronaut.

  He spent a week at the academy training with a team that flew a simulated mission to the International Space Station (ISS). While in the simulator, Villalobos completed a spacewalk as well as other exercises and came back down to graduate with honors.

  According to a press release, More than 750,000 trainees, including Villalobos, have graduated from Space Camp since its inception in Huntsville, Alabama in 1982.

  He attended as a part of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program. This program helped him ‘expand his horizons’ to see what it would be like to be an astronaut in space.

  “I can enroll again next year and I can keep enrolling as many times as I want until I’m eighteen,” Villalobos said. “If I want to I can keep on doing it.”

  There are more programs Villalobos can get involved in as part of the space center when he gets older. According to the space academy website he can do more advanced challenges such as military-style combat and flight training when he becomes a sophomore and do them through his senior year.

  Villalobos hopes to continue to do these programs and “expand his horizons” in the space field.

  “It’s a really cool experience that I actually would tell someone else to do. It’s really fun [and] something I won’t forget,” Villalobos said.