Students from Hancock Place Middle School and Riverview Gardens School District recently had the opportunity to ask their space-related questions and get answers from someone who has actually been there! “I didn’t know the sun is white, and not yellow,” says Brooklyn, an eighth grader at Hancock, who was able to hear from Aisha Bowe, former NASA engineer, founder and CEO of STEMBoard and LINGO, and member of the Blue Origin all-female crew that went into space on April 14. “I would like to see more girls interested in the fields of technology and I think they should all hear her story,” says Brooklyn.

Bowe was in town attending the GEOINT (GEOspatial INTelligence) Symposium the week of May 19 and made time to chat with students during the Next Step 9th Grade program at Riverview and the first session of LINGO “Countdown to Launch” at Hancock Middle. She is the creator of LINGO, STEM-focused interactive kits that teach students about coding and solving real-world problems through technology. Her recent trip to space, which she planned for and helped fellow engineers with for the past year, inspired her to develop the new kit. Little Bit and Hancock are the first in Missouri to try it out.

“In this module, students are building a rocket launch countdown timer. I look forward to their feedback,” says Bowe. Since Little Bit launched LINGO in our partner schools in 2021, Bowe has spoken to students (in person and via Zoom) several times about her journey to becoming a NASA rocket scientist. “I didn’t have anyone that believed I could do it – especially myself. While I would love for more students to get involved in aerospace – or even just coding, which is everywhere – my main message to them is that regardless of what you’re interested in, dream it, plan it and go do it! You can do everything if you believe in yourself.”