Holly Focareto loves space and astronomy. When her parents, Tom and Betsy Focareto, encouraged her to apply for a scholarship that would allow her to attend Space Academy at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., Holly figured she didn’t have anything to lose.She applied in the spring of 2010, and was awarded a scholarship from the Military Child Education Coalition. The scholarship covered the entire cost associated with a week at the Space Academy. Focareto attended the camp in July.”I wasn’t expecting it, but I was really excited about it,” Focareto said. She was one of 15 students selected from a nationwide pool of 120 applicants.Her interest in space began in second grade when a guest speaker came to her school to talk about NASA and shuttle missions. “It really sparked an interest in me,” Focareto said.She reads profusely on the subject, and likes to spend evenings by the campfire stargazing and looking for satellites. She said she begged her parents to let her stay up for the Perseid meteor shower in August.Focareto doesn’t have a telescope, so she enjoyed getting to view space through the large telescope at camp. “We looked at the moon at space camp,” she said. “We looked where the dark side met the light side. You could really see how deep the craters were.”Space camp was an amazing experience, Focareto said. She was teamed with 15 other students who became her crewmates for the week. “It was a cool way to meet people from around the United States,” she said.Focareto said she flew two missions – one as a station specialist in space, and the other as a ground mission control officer.She said she especially enjoyed her role as an astronaut on an international space station. “We had to wear the orange jump suits, and we actually had to go in these machines called five-degree chairs,” she said. The chairs simulated a frictionless environnment. “We had to pretend that we went outside on a space walk to fix solar panels. It was really fun.”The program Focareto attended is housed at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center, the most comprehensive U.S. manned space flight museum in the world. As part of the camp experience, Focareto said she toured the facility, learning about man’s history in space, while sitting under the massive rockets. “It was kind of cool because the engines were right there,” she said.Now that she is back home, Focareto is excited to share her knowledge and experience with others. She is already planning a career in a space-related field, and dreams of someday going on a real space mission.In the meantime, Focareto is staying grounded in her studies and is excited about the upcoming year. She is in eighth grade at Pikes Peak School of Expeditionary Learning. This year, her science curriculum will focus on geology and astronomy – her two favorite subjects, she said.Focareto also plays basketball, softball and enjoys reading anything and everything she can get her hands on. “I love to read, it’s my favorite,” she said. “I’ve read “Sherlock Holmes.” I also read the Gone novels; it’s one of my favorite series.”Her grandmother gave her a classic novel series a year ago, and she is making her way through it. “Right now I’m reading “The Importance of Being Earnest” and other writings by Oscar Wilde.”From the Editor: In our August issue, we misspelled Barbara Tyner’s first name in Face to Face. Our apologies.
