Lacordaire Academy student Goretti Muriithi was one of 13 students awarded a Space Camp scholarship from The Scholarship Fund for Inner-City Children, a partner of the Archdiocese of Newark.
The scholarship is awarded to economically disadvantaged sophomores and juniors enrolled in inner-city Catholic high schools within the Archdiocese.
Muriithi was selected through a competitive process in which each applicant submitted his or her grades, a teacher recommendation, and an essay describing how STEM has sparked his or her creativity and imagination, according to a press release from the Archdiocese of Newark.
Muriithi was one of the record-setting 10 girls who traveled to Huntsville, Alabama to attend the U.S. Space & Rocket Center’s Advanced Space Camp. While at camp, she experienced the 1/6th Gravity Chair and the Multi-Axis Trainer, which simulates a spacecraft or aircraft tumble, the press release said.
Space camp is beneficial for the students, as well as being fun, SFIC’s director of scholarship programs Jasmin Roman said in the release.
“STEM education is so important in today’s world, so we love providing this opportunity to students who deserve to attend Space Camp but might not have been able to go without a scholarship,” Roman said. “Space Camp is beneficial for the students. Every year, we see a big difference in their confidence and self-assurance when they come back. And it’s just a lot of fun for them.”
Muriithi is a resident of East Orange.