By Derik Hicks
In the heart of East Charlotte, a group of students from Albemarle Road Middle School (Albemarle Road) did the unimaginable. They designed a scientific experiment that was selected by NASA and sent to the edge of space. Yes, space.
Albemarle Road became one of 60 schools nationwide to win NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge, an elite national competition that immerses students in STEM by inviting them to submit and build real-world experiments for suborbital flight. Over 700 schools applied.
With limited resources but unlimited ambition, this group of middle schoolers created a radiation detector that measures radiation levels across different layers of the Earth’s atmosphere. On June 16, 2025, students from 60 middle and high schools witnessed their experiments launch aboard a high-altitude NASA balloon as part of NASA’s TechRise Student Challenge – this included Albemarle Road students’ radiation detector.
It all started with one teacher’s commitment to giving her students an opportunity to dream.
A spark ignited
Sharon Okoye, a science teacher at Albemarle Road, has a talent for finding opportunities where others see obstacles. “I run a program focused on science, research and competition,” she explained. “I actively hunt for competitions that give my students the chance to shine.” When she stumbled upon the NASA TechRise challenge, she saw a golden opportunity and jumped on it.
Her enthusiasm caught on quickly with the students, who were encouraged to research and present potential project topics. One student, captivated by the topic of radiation, gave a compelling presentation that sparked class-wide curiosity. “It became a student-driven choice,” Okoye said. “They talked about Hiroshima, Nagasaki — and they wanted to know how radiation moves through the atmosphere.”
With guidance from Okoye and inspired by their curriculum on atmospheric layers, the students proposed an experiment to detect radiation at different altitudes. They integrated additional measurements like temperature, pressure and humidity — all brainstormed and researched by the students themselves.
Engineering with NASA
Once selected as winners, the students partnered with NASA engineers to bring their design to life. Every week after school, they collaborated on coding, soldering, wiring and designing the hardware that would fly thousands of feet into the sky.
Time constraints were a major hurdle. The team only had one hour a week to work with NASA engineers. Holidays, inclement weather and other interruptions constantly threatened their progress. “But the kids stepped up,” Okoye said.. “They gave up their lunch breaks to work. They figured out problems before the engineers came back the next week. The NASA staff told me, ‘We’ve never seen students collaborate like this.’”
For Seth Robinson, one of the team members, the project was life changing. “I was the team’s coder and did most of the wiring,” he said. “It was challenging, but it was the most fun I’ve ever had.”
Seeing something he helped build actually go up into space “was surreal,” Seth said. “My past self would’ve never believed it. To know I helped create something that went into space—it changed the way I see the future.”
Redefining possibility
For a school with a high population of underserved students, this wasn’t just a science fair victory—it was a transformative moment.
“Many of my brightest students used to say they wanted to drop out, or work in fast food,” Okoye said. “Some had been told they’d be homeless. That’s what they believed because that’s what they saw around them. This project gave them something different — a vision for what they can be.”
Seth is now considering a future in engineering. “It showed me how exciting and powerful science can be,” he said. “I want to keep building and solving problems. I want to contribute to the real world.”
Okoye has set her sights on scaling up this success. “I want to expand this kind of competitive STEM engagement across the district,” she said. “If my students can go from local science club to national champions, so can others.”
Opportunity overcomes obstacles
Despite being in a resource-constrained school, Okoye and her students never let that stand in their way. “You have to (submit grant applications), knock on doors, get the community involved. The resources won’t always be there, but if your focus and heart are there, anything is possible,” Okoye said.
With help from Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, a supportive principal and even parents who rallied behind the students, this once-after-school club turned into a national headline.
“Opportunity is everything,” Okoye said. “Every child has the capacity to do something amazing. All they need is the chance.”