2007 Space Camp Scholarships Fish & Richardson provides scholarships for 3 students to attend Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama.  Space Camp is a five-day program with activities including simulated space shuttle missions, training simulators, and lectures on space exploration; its goal is to excite and educate children in the fields of math, science and technology; see www.spacecamp.com for more information.  We also send a chaperon with the students, and the winners get cool things like their own flight suit.    The selection process for winners involves a written application and interview.  Como Park lets 5th and 6th graders apply for scholarships and typically a 5th grade winner will promote the program the following year among the 6th graders.  As the program has been in existence for 7 years now at Como Park, the school really gets into the program and there is fierce competition for the scholarships.    Our winners this year are Vi Thao (Gr. 6), Neyvi (Gr. 6), and Ariana (Gr. 5).  Vi Thao is an enthusiastic, confident, bubbly girl, with an engaging smile and an abundance of knowledge about the International Space Station.  Having to interview with 4 adults did not concern her in the slightest - she could have spoken for 10 minutes on any question we asked her.  She likes math because "the numbers jump around in my head."   In her essay, Vi Thao wrote that her dream was to be an astronaut, but that her parents were very concerned that being an astronaut was not safe.  She hopes that Space Camp will give her the knowledge to allay their fears.    Neyvi - WOW! is the only way to describe her.  She immigrated to the United States from El Salvador less than a year ago, speaking no English.   She is already reading, speaking, and writing English at or above her grade level; writes beautifully in Spanish above her grade level; and absolutely excels at math, where she is two years ahead.  She's respectful, thoughtful, and utterly inspiring.  Neyvi wants to go to Space Camp because she thinks it will affect the choices she makes in life.  In response to the question  "what will your life be like in the future?" she stated that she hoped her life would be "triumphant."  My bet is on Neyvi.     Ariana has wanted to go to Space Camp since first grade, when she heard about it from a sister’s friend who won a F&R scholarship.  We have a budding electrical or robotic engineer in Ariana, and she's ready for the challenge, noting,  "To become an engineer takes a lot of math."  She wants to build robots that can climb around on the outside of the space station.  She loves to play with her Lego MindStorm sets at home, and competes for the Math Masters math competition group for Como Park.  In one of her essays, she wondered why the new Earth-like planet was named 581c - she thinks, "they could give it a better name."