Four Medford middle school students got the chance to live out their space exploration dreams this summer thanks to an Oregon State University precollege program focused on STEM learning.
The students, who are part of the McLoughlin Middle School SMILE Club, won an all-expenses paid trip to the Kennedy Space Center, the U.S. Space Force Base and Cocoa Beach, Florida in August after participating in the Artemis Roads III Challenge.
The challenge, offered by Northwest Earth and Space Science Pathways and funded through NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, invited more than 300 teams nationwide to complete eight detailed mission objectives focused on the upcoming Artemis III mission, which will return astronauts to the moon. McLoughlin’s SMILE students were selected as one of just 13 winning teams.
The OSU Science and Math Investigative Learning Experiences Program, better known as SMILE, is currently partnered with 16 school districts and 75 teachers from across Oregon. Loni Strong is a middle school teacher at McLoughlin and is the leader of its SMILE Club. It’s her third year with the program.
“SMILE gives kids who are bored with a regimented curriculum the chance to think outside the box and dream, investigate, grow and see themselves as world changers,” Strong said. “At SMILE every lesson comes with opportunities to think creatively and each student can personalize their experience. I have watched even some of the most troubled students, who rarely lead and finish anything, be the first to guide the entire group to a marvelous outcome.”
To qualify, teams of three to six students each had to complete hands-on missions focused on Artemis III, document their progress in a mission development log and compete in an in-person qualifier at Central Washington University. Five students were on the McLoughlin team but one was unable to attend the trip.
“This win is particularly meaningful since several of the students had participated in the Artemis Roads II Challenge the previous year as elementary SMILE students, dreaming of one day reaching Kennedy Space Center,” said SMILE program coordinator Erin Doney. “Thanks to their hard work, perseverance and the ongoing support of the SMILE Program at Oregon State University, that dream became reality.”
Strong and the students spent two days at the Kennedy Space Center, where they were given a special behind-the-scenes tour of the launch facilities including launch pads A & B where the Artemis rockets will launch. They were also able to view the Vehicle Assembly Building from a distance, where they saw the Artemis II rocket, which is expected to circle the moon in the spring of 2026.
Additionally, the team attended a night launch of the ULA Vulcan rocket from Cocoa Beach and stargazed. They were also given a special tour of Cape Canaveral and the Space Force Base and watched a day launch of a SpaceX Starlink 290.
“Listening to the many scientists we met who actually worked on the Apollo missions and beyond only reinforced how essential it is to empower the great minds (my current students) of the future,” Strong said. “I know it takes clubs like SMILE to give the next great minds the open space to really imagine what today is unimaginable.”
Strong said they learned about the award after school had let out for the summer, but when they resumed the club meetings this fall, everyone was thrilled to hear that four of their classmates had made the trip.
“All of the kids felt very proud to have a team from our school accomplish such a fantastic dream,” she said. “They knew we worked very hard for two years in hopes of winning — knowing that we probably wouldn't. I heard over and over again students say that in the future they would never doubt that ‘dreams can come true.’”
Click here to see local news coverage of their trip.
~ Theresa Hogue
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