Gould Engineering Team, NASA, and the Power of Trust

two engineering students take a rover for a test run at Sunday River

Feb 24 2026

Somewhere between belief & becoming, learned confidence takes shape, one build, one test, one decision at a time.

There are moments in a school year that arrive without ceremony. They don’t appear on calendars or in course outlines. Yet they impact young lives, revealing who students are becoming through conscious effort and choice. To stay a little longer. To try again. To ask one more question.

This year, that process has taken a bold, tangible form.

Following an intense student-led application and vetting process, the Gould Engineering Team has been accepted to compete in NASA’s Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC), an international competition that asks students to design, build, and operate a rover capable of navigating terrain inspired by planetary exploration.

Gould’s team will travel to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, this April to compete in the Remote Rover Division, where their rover must navigate ten obstacles across three missions within a 12-minute time limit, performing tasks that simulate real planetary exploration while staying lightweight, maneuverable, and durable. Only 56 high school and university programs from around the world were accepted into the HERC competition, and Gould will compete against eight other high schools within the Remote Rover Division.

**Billy Ayotte, Sean Xie ’27, Vanya Prymak ’26, and Sonya Merkulova ’27 work on the soil sampler**

On most evenings inside Gould Academy’s Marlon Family IDEAS Center—the school’s maker space—the lights stay on a little longer. Students move from station to station with purpose, as tools hum, ideas are shared aloud, and conversations unfold in short bursts, pausing to measure, test, and revise. A wheel’s structure gets checked again. A connection gets tightened. A design gets reconsidered.

The room holds steady focus, along with laughter and collaboration, and a pace that feels true to how learning happens. The work is serious, and students work tirelessly to get it right over time, grounded in both curiosity and patience. And although the challenges of such a dynamic competition are ever-present, the seven members of the Gould Engineering Team return each night, enthusiastic and with shared purpose, and for the earned trust that builds when students are given real ownership of meaningful work.

I kept going back to it. Reading, thinking, wondering—until it stopped feeling impossible.

- Maria Mangino ’28, Gould Engineering Team Leader

NASA’s rover challenge is technically, mentally, and emotionally demanding. The team will have to make timely decisions under immense pressure on perhaps the biggest stage of their lives. Parts will break. Plans will change. Confidence will grow as the work intensifies, and the team rises to meet the demand. Although the competition represents just one moment in a much longer process, the rover will ultimately have to perform when the time clock starts.

Students stay focused on the next problem in front of them, but the competition itself is not the headline. The real story is about how one student’s idea moved from a cautious “maybe,” to an assured “we can do this.” How roles formed through contribution, not titles. How students learned to believe in each other, and how one trusted adult stayed close without taking over.

Stepping Into Responsibility

The NASA project began, just as many meaningful endeavors do, with a student asking a question. Over the summer, Gould sophomore Maria Mangino ’28 came upon NASA’s rover challenge while working a computer-aided design internship. At first, she dismissed it. NASA felt distant, meant for institutions larger, more specialized, more certain of themselves.

It was never about the rover, but about trust and learning to solve problems together.

- William “Billy” Ayotte, Director of the Marlon Family IDEAS Center

The thing about curiosity is that it has a long memory; it follows you. And soon enough, Maria’s doubt and reservations began to evolve, from “NASA is too big,” to the affirmation that Gould students were meant to do big things.

When Maria returned to campus, she brought the idea to her STEM teacher and the Director of the Marlon Family IDEAS Center, Mr. William Ayotte. His response was measured and intentional, without promise of success.

Instead, he offered Maria a challenge: that if she truly wanted to pursue it, she would need to build a team of students committed to taking on the rover challenge with her. He would advise along the way, but the project would belong to them.

Gould students are curious, open to challenge, and engaged in their educational journey.

Discover Hands-On Learning at Gould

Mr. Ayotte’s role throughout the project has been clear but subtle: advisor, consultant, and trusted adult; a steady presence where and when it’s needed most. He helps students see the system without standing at its center.

When debates arise, he lets them unfold. When uncertainty appears, he helps reframe the work. He encourages students to expand knowledge by answering their own questions, through hands-on experience and a lot of trial and error.

**The team takes a test run with the rover at Sunday River**

Learning to navigate complex systems and relationships, one student steps in as the systems thinker, while others focus on building, and another takes the controls as driver. Leadership shifts depending on what the moment requires. Early on, Maria found steady support in her upperclass teammate and captain of Gould’s mathematics club, Sonya Merkulova ’27, and the two often leaned on each other through shared encouragement.

When it came time to determine who would drive the rover, entrusting one student to operate under enormous pressure, in competition with the hopes and aspirations of the entire team…and the larger Gould community for that matter—Mr. Ayotte approached Vanya Prymak ’26, a senior whose calm focus and steadiness had already earned the trust of those around him.

He had watched Vanya work with the rover’s electrical systems. He had seen his steady composure, the calculated choices and the way others listened when Vanya spoke. So Mr. Ayotte kept it simple:

“I think you’re the right person for this,” he said. “I think you have what this role requires.”

Vanya accepted, and Mr. Ayotte’s trust became a vote of empowerment. The seat was Vanya’s, but he would not be alone in it. He would drive with the team’s planning and execution behind him, and with the confidence he had developed each night—that he was ready to accomplish great things.

The Moments Between Milestones

There are no grades in the Engineering Club. No exams. No external incentives. Students show up after full academic days because the work matters to them, and to one another. The team is composed of seven students from various backgrounds and four different countries—the United States, Ukraine, Mexico, and China—including one Sophomore, four Juniors, and two Seniors.

Gathered around the same workbench, different languages and accents ring out like a song, forming one technical voice as students compare measurements, troubleshoot malfunctioning sensors, and debate design choices.

Perspectives shaped by different life experiences show up in how problems are approached: one student sketches a solution, another 3D prints a new prototype, and yet another asks key questions that reframe the issue entirely. What they share is a willingness to listen—in any language—and make adjustments together.

In one early test, a wheel assembly that worked flawlessly on paper failed under load, sending the team back to the drawing board to rethink materials, tolerances, and control. Solutions that seemed elegant in theory behaved unpredictably in practice. Yet the team never describes these moments as setbacks, merely discoveries.

**“Wheel Man” Ezra Tsapis ’27 works on his design in the IDEAS Center with Billy Ayotte**

Ezra Tsapis ’27, known on the team as the “Wheel Man,” oversees key components related to rover traction and wheel performance, grounding the team in the practical reality that movement matters. He calls these moments, “rewards of curiosity.” The team has learned to expect surprises, and to meet them head-on with support close by. When something fails, the next step is to understand why, adjust, and continue.

This is what learning looks like when the work has real purpose, and students are self-motivated to improve.

Explained perfectly by Sean Xi ’27—the Engineering Team’s Safety Director—“There’s a different energy, it feels like we’re part of something bigger than ourselves. Not because we’re afraid of letting each other down, but because we really care.”

In Sean’s role, he helps keep testing structured and decision-making clear, modeling calm leadership when pressure rises.

More Than a Mission

For the young leaders of Gould’s Engineering Team, it’s not all about intensity and the magnitude of NASA. There are impromptu homemade Dippin’ Dots labs and snowmaking machines, laughter between tests, and playful jokes about attempting triangle wheels. Students gather around the same tables to share food, swap stories, and take a break before tackling the next problem.

He didn’t tell me what to do. He told me he believed I could do it. And then I started believing in myself.

- Vanya Prymak ’26, Gould Engineering Team Rover Driver

Those moments matter, perhaps more than the build itself. The competition may be the reason they came together, but it isn’t the only thing they’ll remember — far from it. The late nights, deep conversation, meaningful connections, and the thrill of the experience are sure to stay with them, long after the trip to Huntsville concludes, regardless of the final outcome.

Learned Confidence That Lasts

With the competition fast approaching, practice runs become more realistic. Obstacles are timed. Mission tasks are rehearsed in sequence. Small delays, like a loose circuit or a wheel that hesitates, are treated not as setbacks, but as opportunities to refine the process.

“We don’t expect a perfect run,” said Mateo Viniegra Ocampo ’26—Rover Water Collection and Sub-Systems Manager. “We expect to adapt.”

Soon, the rover will face uneven terrain, tight maneuvering, and mission tasks that simulate collecting and measuring resources on another planet. The students know the course will test both their design and their decision-making. “Something unexpected is going to happen,” Vanya said. “That’s part of it. We’ll deal with it when it does.”

As learned confidence begins to take shape, students speak with more clarity about what they know, and what they still must discover together. Described best by the team’s Public Relations & Media Director, Maeve Grocki ’27, “We share ownership without waiting for permission or for someone to hand us the answer. We listen to understand, and try to lean into curiosity more than claiming to have the right answers.”

Back in the IDEAS Center, final adjustments continue. Cables are secured. Labels are added. Tools are returned to their places at the end of each session. The rover sits in the center of the room, marked by tape notes, fingerprints, and the small revisions that come from months of shared work—bound for the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, where the next chapter begins. ◼︎