By Ezra Wingrove, Class of 2026
This article is a part of a series of student stories of growth curated for the 2025 One Event. If you enjoy this story, please donate and tell us which student’s story inspired you to give.
I have always been a hands-on learner. Since I started asking questions when I was a toddler, I wanted people to show me how something worked and let me fiddle with it, rather than just tell me. In my previous schools, that wasn’t how learning worked. There were infinite amounts of essays to write and videos to watch but never experiments to do, never actually getting to figure it out. There was always ‘watch this cartoon video about water based energy then write a 3-paragraph essay explaining how it works,’ but it was all theoretical. There was never anything in my hands, so I never truly understood what I was taught. Teachers didn’t like me because I asked too many questions, was too curious, wanted to go see and touch the thing we were talking about. So, when I got to One Stone, I didn’t necessarily have high hopes to learn in the way I needed.
I was so surprised. One Stone embraced my way of learning. There were always field trips or site visits, and we always got to do experiments and fiddle with random things just to see how it was put together. Since my very first day, when we built stomp rockets, it’s all been hands-on, and I’ve had a great time. For three years now, I’ve been gaining confidence and curiosity to learn about new and random things I hadn’t thought about before. I learned more about my interests, found even more, and even re-sparked a few passions I had long since abandoned because of my middle school’s strict and boring lessons. I was thriving, and I still am.
Recently, I applied to something called ISAS. It stands for Idaho Science and Aerospace Scholars, and it’s for Idaho high school juniors to learn about space and NASA and get a standing in a possible career that they love. I love space; it’s just so beautiful, bright, and never ending. I thrive under the stars, just staring at the moon for hours and thinking about what could possibly be up there. Reading about the next eclipse or the recent rocket launch makes my day. So, when I heard about this opportunity, I applied without hesitation. It’s an online course to learn all of the basics, then the top 80 students move forward to work with BSU and go even further. There is also an opportunity to go on a simulated Mars mission depending on your performance and interest! I applied back in April, and all while doing school, work, and reading up on all of the satellites and rovers different space agencies have made, I waited. I would hear back in November.
And on November 18th and 9:10 am, I almost started crying. I got in. I actually did it; I got into the program that would lead my adventures learning about space and everything that goes on in the universe. This could be the beginning of a career doing research on the stars and building rovers to collect rocks for us on different planets.
I don’t think I would have even applied if I wasn't at One Stone, because they gave me the leadership and confidence to reach for the stars (both figuratively and literally) and go for what I love, rather than settling for what’s easy. These past three years have been life changing, and I would have never learned how to wrangle my fears and take the leap if it wasn’t for One Stone.
