NORTH CAROLINA — NASA Astronaut Christina Koch is back on earth. The N.C. State University graduate was scheduled to land after 4 a.m. Thursday in Kazakhstan. She has spent the last 328 days living and working on the International Space Station.

You may remember she took part in the first all-female spacewalk and set the record for the longest amount of time a woman has spent in space.

Christina’s curiosity for space exploration began in North Carolina at a very special high school in Durham.

We recently visited her high school alma mater, the North Carolina School for Science and Math, to talk to some of our future leaders in science. The student’s passion for learning was overwhelming just as we asked our first question — “Why did you decide to attend this unique high school?”

Madelyn Stewart of Hickory quickly responded, “That’s a really easy answer! Calculus and science labs!”

Stewart is just one of 680 juniors and seniors from across North Carolina that not only attend advanced classes at the School of Science and Math, but they also live on campus.

The residential school was founded 40 years ago and now has around 400 other students who take classes online.

The school’s faculty, like physics instructor Dr. Sam Wheeler, describes the students as some of the brightest in the state. He told us, “The students are always engaged. It’s the attitude. Everyone wants to be here.”

Some of the students recently took a break from studying to speak to one of the school’s most famous alums, Astronaut Christina Koch, who was at the International Space Station.

Two of those students, Jewel Marlowe of Calabash and Austin Torain of Roxboro, described their conversations with Koch as “awesome, inspiring, and empowering.”

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Remember those names. Just like Koch, they are on the path to becoming our next international leaders in science, math, and engineering.

Torain said he thinks a lot about the medical field and may pursue a career in neurosurgery.

Stewart, who loves math, would like to apply math to solve some of the biggest issues facing the world like climate change.

One of these NCSSM students may even set new records in space travel.

Marlowe says she wants to be an astronaut. She says, “The biggest focal point for NASA is an expedition to Mars. I would hope to pioneer that mission to Mars and possibly look into the habitation of the environment.”

The North Carolina School of Science and Math was the first school of its kind in the country. Since it was founded in 1980, 18 other schools have been modeled after it, including the nearby South Carolina Governor’s School for Science and Math.

Applications to be part of their class of 2022 are now closed, but if you have a young scientist or mathematician in your family who would like to be a part of future courses or would like to learn more about the school, click here to visit ncssm.edu.

The school plans to open a second campus in Morganton in 2021.