The U.S. Space & Rocket Center (USSRC) recently hosted its inaugural Leadership, Inspiration, Focus and Teamwork (LIFT) Academy at Space Camp®. The LIFT Academy was developed to assist young adults by providing them with the tools needed for success in college, careers, and life.

It was a three-day program filled with leadership development, teamwork building, and opportunities to hone one’s critical-thinking skills. Sessions encompassed presentation skills, refining interviewing and networking techniques, and how to build one’s personal “brand.” At the close of the session, each participant presented a 2-3 minute “elevator pitch” and had the opportunity to receive valuable feedback.

In addition to the career, leadership, and team development, LIFT incorporated a Space Camp mission to the comprehensive 3-day program. To give participants an opportunity to practice business etiquette and networking skills, LIFT featured a formal dinner with industry professionals and a personal development talk delivered by retired NASA astronaut Capt. Robert “Hoot” Gibson.

LIFT was developed for young adults ages 17-19, those aging out of Space Camp but are not quite prepared for the post-high school “great unknowns” of college and career.

The inaugural LIFT cohort were mostly from the southeast region of the United States: Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, South Carolina, and Tennessee. While several of the participants were predictably from Huntsville, there were participants from other parts of the state, as well. There were even students from as far away as New York State and Colorado.

Brett Lougheed, a 17-year-old a high school senior from Canton, GA was one of the 14 participants. Dually enrolled at Sequoia High School and Kennesaw State, Lougheed has her sights set on a career in Aerospace engineering. She plans to begin her academic studies at Florida Institute of Technology this coming August.

Lougheed was already familiar with USSRC and had attended the Advanced Space Academy this past summer. “I found out about LIFT because I trying to apply for the Elite Academy, but this really caught my eye because it was something new,” said Lougheed. “It kind of went with everything I was trying to go for.”

On the last day of the Academy, the group engaged in a high rope activity, an exercise designed for strengthening team building skills and establishing trust.

Upon arrival to the ropes area, the group gathered in a big circle with their group leaders for an icebreaker activity. The activity started off with the question, “If you could live in any aisle in the grocery store, which would it be?” Once it was established that the grocery store was a super Walmart and not a regular grocery store, the answers ranged from participants making a home in the cereal aisle to camping out in the crafts, furniture, or electronics departments.

Next, it was time to brief the group on the ropes activity, as well as general safety rules. There were also rules of nature and winter foliage, as expressed by one of LIFT’s counselors, “If it’s green, it’s mean.”

Each participant was harnessed, and then donned a helmet when it was their turn to climb the 32-foot pole all the way to the top. Each climb was preceded by a safety check, making sure that harnesses were secure. Four carabiners per harness translated into “Lock 1, Lock 2, Lock 3, Lock 4.” Once it was established that all four “locks” were secure, then it was safe to begin the climb.

The group lined up in order of interest, from those who were eager to participate to those where were less so. The very first climber was an enthusiastic young lady with fighter pilot aspirations, she also had previous ropes experience and moved up the pole with ease.

Lougheed was the second one to climb, and it was her maiden voyage. “It’s a really cool experience,” said Lougheed. “It’s really easy to get up there, but the minute I got to the top, I felt like I was being pulled back down. And so, trying to get my feet onto the platform is what took a minute. Because they’re pulling you back and you’re trying to stand up, which is kind of difficult because the weight behind you and gravity is not really agreeing.”

“They are a great group of kids, very articulate,” said Robin Soprano, Space & Rocket Center’s Vice President. “It’s about teambuilding, communication, presentation skills, and developing one’s personal brand to match their career. It’s about how to prepare for job interviews, apply for scholarships. Most importantly, it’s face-to-face skill development.”

Planning is a skill that LIFT covers. However, it’s equally important to know how shift gears when even the best plans fall through. The less-emphasized skills of improvisation and pivoting are covered for when there’s a need to organize and regroup.

Another topic presented is business etiquette, something that has almost become a lost art. These are the kinds of things that are not necessarily taught at home or in the academic setting, such as how to make small talk or determine which fork to use at a formal dinner.

According to Soprano, LIFT Academy is an extension of Space Camp, but it’s not Space Camp. As the inaugural program, she says that there are some bugs to iron out before LIFT will be offered again, hopefully in the spring.

“I think it was a really good experience to go through this program,” said Lougheed. “It teaches a whole lot of different leadership skills that you normally would not get from just going to camps. I think my biggest takeaway is how I can use these different things in my real life.”

For more information, go to rocketcenter.com.