Jackson Warley of the Renaissance Academy in Colorado Springs, Colo., took first prize in NASA's 50th Anniversary Essay Competition. More than 1,000 submissions from 37 states and 15 countries were entered into the contest, conducted by NASA's Innovative Partnerships Program and NASA's Office of Education.

The seventh grader, guided by RA teacher Ron Hamilton, will receive a $5,000 college scholarship and a VIP trip for four to view a space shuttle launch at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. In his essay, Jackson wrote "the underlying spirit and principles of NASA . . . heeds the basic human calling to explore the unknown and in doing so, gives people motivation."

""When I found out about the contest I was really excited," Warley said, "but I didn't actually think I could win. I enjoyed writing the essay itself and I'm looking forward to going to the launch."

The international competition challenged middle school and junior high students to discuss, in an essay of 500 words or less, one of two topics: how they have benefitted in their everyday lives from aerospace technologies built by NASA during the past 50 years, or, how their lives may be different 50 years in the future because of NASA technology.

Warley's winning essay will be published in USA Today.

"NASA is proud to recognize the winners of the 50th anniversary essay competition. This competition has generated excitement among the participating students as they learned about how America's space program impacts their lives in very powerful ways," NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale said. "The goal is to spark students' imagination in science, math, and engineering and I think we've achieved that goal with these exceptional students."

Renaissance Academy began in 1993, offering gifted educational opportunity to residents of the Pikes Peak region. It is a private, non-profit school that is passionately committed to the success of each student-academically, socially and emotionally. Tucked up against the foothills in the Mountain Shadows area and led by Executive Director Clayanna Killing, Renaissance Academy has approximately 100 students, with a 13:1student to teacher ratio. Please call with additional questions.

Renaissance Academy-Inspiration, Imagination, Gifted Education

2670 Fieldstone Road
Colorado Springs, CO 80919
(719) 475-2510
admissions@therenaissanceacademy.org