Fulton Sun

Friday afternoon at Fulton Middle School, a group of eighth-grade science students started planning NASA’s next mission to Mars.

It may sound far-fetched, but those students could have a voice in how that mission is conducted through Mars Bound!, a NASA-designed program for middle school students. Mars Bound! is an engineering simulation activity in which students use realistic techniques to plan a mission to Mars.

They have that opportunity because Lucy Shrout, this year’s Fulton Public Schools Teacher of the Year, attended a special workshop in which she was trained to facilitate the program.