A pupil of ALO (Academic Secondary Comprehensive School) in Gliwice is a scholarship holder of The Endeavor Scholarship program
Beniamin Kopiec, a third-grade pupil of the Academic Secondary Comprehensive School of the Silesian University of Technology in Gliwice, is among the four-person team of The Endeavor Scholarship holders. Beniamin will undergo training at the Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, United States.
The organizer of The Endeavor Scholarship Program, addressed to young people from around the world, is the AI Worden Endeavor Scholarship foundation. The partners of the Polish edition are Targi Kielce and the Polish Space Agency. The content partner of the final is the Copernicus Science Center .
To be in the finals of the program, Beniamin and the other students had to successfully pass the first stage, which consisted of recording a two-minute video according to. criteria in a given category (scientific and non-scientific), and also write a short motivation why he should fly to the USA. The Polish Space Agency received approximately 40 applications in the non-scientific category and 140 applications in the scientific category.
On Monday, January 15, at the Copernicus Science Center, the finalists competed in two rounds. They were assessed by the jury in terms of creativity, teamwork, resourcefulness, critical thinking, problem-solving skills and concentration on the task.
Twenty students from all over Poland took part in the final of the competition, competing in two rounds - under the watchful eye of the jury. Their task was, among others, design and build a model of the lunar lander, which was then tested.
The four winners will fly to the United States for a week of training at the Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, USA. This centre has been operating since 1982. So far, it has trained over 900,000 people, several of whom became astronauts.
This is the first edition of the Endeavor Scholarship program implemented in Poland. The project is aimed at pupils aged 15 to 18 who are interested in space. So far, students from the USA, Great Britain, Chile, Singapore, Australia, Bahrain and France have participated in the program.
Beniamin Kopiec has wide interests: he is passionate about space and is currently preparing for the second stage of the Astronomy Olympiad. Additionally, the student is a scholarship holder of the Silesian University of Technology's mentoring program "Rozwiń Skrzydła", a member of the school's mechatronics club and a participant of the PBL project in the AI Mech club at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering. Beniamin has also participated in several educational projects related to physics, astronomy and mechatronics. Beniamin was encouraged to participate in The Endeavor Scholarship program by dr Eng. Małgorzata Szymaszek, who is a space ambassador of the Copernicus Science Center, and at ALO she teaches physics and takes care of a scientific club called the "Young Explorers' Club".
