About a month ago, Everett Guajardo signed up for the NASA HUNCH Design and Prototyping program through Mr. Langevine’s Aerospace class. The purpose of the program is to guide engineering students in solving a problem that real life astronauts face on a daily basis to give them real world experience in being an engineer.
Students partaking in the program develop an idea, create a prototype to be reviewed in a Preliminary Design Review (PDR), test the prototype, then create a final product for review by HUNCH judges. After that, the student’s project has the chance to actually go to space!
Everett chose to find a solution to the problem of removing trash on the way to Mars. In simpler terms, he chose to create a trash ejector for NASA. With his prototype of a trash ejector, he visited the Johnson Space Center on Thursday, November 13th, 2025, to present the prototype to NASA HUNCH officials for his PDR.
His presentation was well received by HUNCH officials, students and teachers from other Houston-Area schools, and members of the public who were visiting that day. Everett believes that the experience was incredibly informative and helpful, while also having loads of fun! He is eagerly looking forward to the next phase of the competition, currently scheduled for February 2026.
