MOUNT OLIVE TWP. A piece of the NASA space station will be functioning better, thanks to 17-year-old Alfonso Carandang.

Carandang, a junior at Mount Olive High School, is among students involved in a special engineering program at County College of Morris (CCM) who are helping to craft a part of a stowage locker which will be aboard SpaceX-10 on its flight to International Space Station on Wednesday, Feb. 15.

Its absolutely incredible knowing that what we worked on is a technical innovation, Carndang said. I can tell people that my piece went into space.

Carandang is among 21 high school students who attend CCM five afternoons each week as part of the Engineering Design and Advanced Manufacturing (EDAM) program. The program is joint effort with the Morris County School of Technology.

The students participated in the High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware or HUNCH Program to create parts for the International Space Station.

Carandang is in his first year at the program and said his group is creating the hinges for the locker. The HUNCH program provided the blueprints and students then made the parts.

The students were tasked with fabricating metal sleeves and nuts for the stowage locker. The locker will provide a safe and secure housing for hardware required for plant studies.

The biggest benefit of being a part of this program is that, not only do the students get to apply what they learn in the classroom and see their work come to fruition, they get to be a part of technological history, said Tom Roskop, assistant professor of engineering technologies at CCM, who has been teaching the students and overseeing their work through various stages of machining and finishing.

This is a fantastic opportunity for high school students like us, said Carandang. The exposure we receive through this program at CCM will serve as great preparation for college and beyond.

To celebrate the upcoming delivery of the stowage locker and its planned launch into space, the students were visited at CCM on Tuesday, Jan. 31, by Florence Gold, HUNCH implementation project manager; Stacy Hale, HUNCH founder; and Blake Ratcliff, HUNCH program manager.

We are extremely proud of these students who have shown remarkable ability and who are obviously future science and business leaders of our state and nation, said Morris County Freeholder Hank Lyon, who is the county governing boards liaison to CCM and the Morris County School of Technology.

The EDAM program is designed for students with an interest in engineering, computer applications and manufacturing. Upon completion of the two-year program, students earn 32 credits from CCM and a Certificate of Achievement in Mechanical Computer Aided Drafting and Engineering Technology.

Students may then enroll in CCMs engineering technology program for one additional year to earn their associate in applied science degree, apply to a four-year college or university, or pursue workforce placement.

Carandang said he plans to earn his associates degree and then enroll at N.J. Institute of Technology where he hopes to get a degree in mechanical engineering technology.

Ive wanted to be involved in engineering since I was in elementary school, Carandang said.

Carandang is the son of Allan, a registered nurse, and Amalia. He has two brothers, Paulo, 22, and Daniel, 13. The family moved to Budd Lake in 2002 from the Phillippines.

Roskop said CCM got involved in the HUNCH program after Eric Pederson, CCM lab assistant for engineering programs, attended a conference in 2015 and learned of the program.

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Mount Olive High School student helps with NASA space station project - New Jersey Hills