Senior Andrew Chen recently represented East Rockaway Jr/Sr High School at the 2026 Growing Beyond Earth Symposium, a collaborative program between Fairchild Tropical Botanic Garden in Miami, Florida, and NASA. Participating virtually, Andrew presented his original research on growing edible plants aboard the International Space Station to a panel of working NASA scientists.

Andrew's project centered on a question with real implications for long-duration spaceflight: does microgravity affect the edible biomass available to astronauts? To find out, he independently designed and 3D printed a device capable of simulating a microgravity environment, then conducted multiple trials growing arugula microgreens to assess the impact. The judges were impressed by both the depth of his research and his engineering ingenuity, asking him detailed questions about his device design.

Founded in 2015, Growing Beyond Earth is a classroom-based citizen science initiative that advances NASA's research on plant cultivation in space while inspiring the next generation of explorers. The program is now active in 500 middle and high schools across the United States and ten other countries, with students contributing real data to support NASA mission planning.

Andrew joined schools from across the country at the symposium – and represented East Rockaway in true “Rock Star” fashion. We are incredibly proud of his dedication to the scientific process, his persistence in pursuing his research questions and his ability to show his classmates just how far curiosity and commitment can take you.