Three Nansemond River High School juniors in the Project Lead the Way program are looking forward to added challenges in the months ahead after selection to the Virginia Aerospace Science and Technology Scholars program.

The program takes place mostly online, covering the STEM subjects — science, technology, engineering and math — with eight two-week, web-based modules.

As an added incentive, the students may also get the chance to attend a seven-day residential summer academy at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton.

“Our engineering teacher recommended it to us,” said Samantha Henry, joined in the program by Ryan Greening and Logan Crews.

“It looked like a good opportunity, and we applied for it.”

The Virginia Space Grant Consortium and the NASA research center are partners on the program, with the state government providing assistance.

“I look forward to learning different ways to do things in different types of engineering,” Crews said. “I want to kind of mix different types of engineering.”

For Greening, his interest in the program lies with an interest in forging a career in engineering with NASA, Boeing or some other company or organization in the aerospace field.

“I want to get some insight into whether I want to do it as a career,” Greening said.

The eight modules begin in December, and the students will work on solutions to real-world problems, such as designing upgrades for the International Space Station or a new manned space-exploration vehicle.

Discussion forums, involving other scholars and NASA scientists and engineers, will cover contemporary space-related topics, and students’ technical writing skills will be improved.

Selection to attend the seven-day academy will be based on performance in the course.

“It’s a good opportunity, because we are already in engineering projects here, participating in Project Lead the Way,” Crews said.

Greening added, “It’s going to build on all the knowledge we have already learned through our Project Lead the Way class.”

It should give them a head start when they start applying for colleges, Henry added.