Editor's Note: Jessica "Faith" Hall's trip is now fully funded. Read more here>>
BAKER — If all goes well, Baker School rising senior Jessica “Faith” Hall will enjoy an opportunity to experience the world of science at the end of the month.
But first, she needs a financial boost.
Faith has been accepted to the Washington, D.C.-based National Academy of Future Scientists and Technologists’ national congress in Boston. The June 27-29 science camp is a hands-on immersion experience, she said.
“We’ll be going into meetings and we’ll hear several speakers. One of them is a 16-year-old boy who invented a type of nanobot,” Faith said. “We’ll go to classes about everything we can expect in the real world from opportunities in math, science and engineering.”
Faith was recently awarded a $1,200 grant from the Air Force Armament Museum to cover camp tuition, but must raise $2,000 to cover transportation and accommodations for her and her mother, Christine. The mother and daughter plan to arrive a day before the congress and remain an extra day to explore historic Boston.
Stacy Burlison, Faith’s science teacher this fall, encouraged the student, whom she also taught math, to apply for the camp in December 2014.
“She is a remarkable young lady. She really is,” Burlison said. “She likes the engineering component. She’s fixing to start robotics and computer programming with me in the fall. There’s no telling what will spark her interest when she gets into it next year.”
Faith said she hopes to narrow her field of science study once she has been exposed to her options through the congress, Burlison’s class, and, after she graduates, college science curricula.
But the first hurdle is raising the money so she and her mother can get to Boston.
“Somehow, I’m going to get her there if I have to drive her myself,” Burlison said. “I’m not going to let her down. She’s really been working hard for this. She’s been down every road and she’s still short.”
WANT TO HELP?
Anyone who can help Jessica “Faith” Hall raise $2,000 to attend the June 27-29 national Congress of Future Scientists and Technologists in Boston may contact Baker School science and math teacher Stacy Burlison, 758-8709 or burlisons@mail.okaloosa.k12.fl.us.
Email News Bulletin Staff Writer Brian Hughes, follow him on Twitter or call 850-682-6524.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: Baker student seeks help to attend national science camp