Maelcolm Donohoe of Greenbank has been accepted into Phase One of the 2009-10 program cycle for the Washington Aerospace Scholars program.

Washington Aerospace Scholars is a competitive educational program for high school juniors from across Washington state based at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

Donohoe was among more than 240 students who applied for the program in November 2009, and will compete against other students to qualify for the summer residency program held in June and July at the Museum of Flight.

Donohoe, a student at South Whidbey High School, will spend the next five months studying a NASA-designed, distance-learning curriculum via the Internet. The curriculum covers topics such the history of human spaceflight and the analysis of current evidence supporting the theory of life on Mars. For their 10 online lessons, scholars must write essays, compute space-related math problems and design graphics that illustrate their ideas.

“These students competed against a strong set of requirements, including writing a personal essay and demonstrating proficiency in math and science,” said museum president and CEO Dr. Bonnie J. Dunbar. “We are very proud of them. They are the generation who will solve the challenges of the present and create future dreams.”