McPherson teens explore aerospace engineering through local STEM scholarship
Fully funded summer program sends two high schoolers to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University
MCPHERSON, Kan. — Two McPherson County high school students are getting a head start in the aerospace industry after a local scholarship sent them to design and test aircraft components at one of the nation's premier aviation universities.
Eian Pracht of Lindsborg and Mackinze Marcott of McPherson spent a week this summer at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Ariz. Their participation in the aerospace engineering camp was fully funded by the Jill Larson STEM Summer Camp Scholarship, an initiative administered by the McPherson County Community Foundation to expose local teenagers to cutting-edge science and technology fields. Working alongside university faculty and engineering students, the students studied aerodynamics, propulsion systems and computer-aided design before creating and analyzing physical aircraft components.
For Marcott, an incoming senior at McPherson High School, the program's impact extended far beyond the engineering labs. The trip to Arizona marked her first time flying on an airplane, and living in university residence halls provided a valuable preview of higher education. "It definitely gave me a small insight into college life," Marcott said. "Not just my major, but the routine of living with another person in a shared space."
The summer camp is part of a broader push by the McPherson County Community Foundation to expand local access to science, technology, engineering and math. Building on that effort, the foundation recently announced it will award three new $2,500 collegiate scholarships this year specifically for graduating female high school students pursuing four-year degrees in STEM fields.
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