Rocket Kid: Ronan student earns trip to Kennedy Space Center

With electric blue glasses and a few freckles scattered across his face, Tobias Becker is a fifth grader on a mission. 

His goal is to be a rocket scientist, not an astronaut. He’d prefer being behind the scenes in Mission Control or maybe engineering the parts for rockets and assembling them.  

Tobias was recently chosen as one of eight kids from across the United States to be in the Space Press Squad. Tobias and his peers will visit Kennedy Space Center and Blue Origins Rocket Factory.

Tobias’s dad, Bill Becker, is the eighth grade math teacher at Ronan Junior High and mentor to many Ronan High School students. His motto is: “You’re never gonna get what you don’t go for.” 

He’s passing that on to his sons, although Tobias said his motto is “Work hard, play hard.”

Bill is a master at finding interesting contests, trips and projects for his students and his kids. In his pursuit of educational opportunities he found a Facebook advertisement offering students a chance to learn about the Kennedy Space Center and Blue Origins Rocket Factory.  

Kids needed to apply, and then Blue Origins, the private company sponsoring the contest, randomly chose three finalists from eight different regions of the United States. Tobias noted that 1,100 kids applied.

“You had to be lucky to get this far,” Bill said. 

After Tobias cleared that hurdle, he had to make a video, 90 seconds or less, interviewing someone. He chose Kember Marengo and Marie Cheff, two of his dad’s students who had visited the Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, Calif., last year.  

He interviewed the two girls about visiting the JPL and “space in general,” he explained. 

After asking a couple of questions, Tobias put his own twist on the video, using a game-show format. He asked a question, such as “What was the first animal in space?” The first person to answer correctly got a point. There was even a buzzer for wrong answers. His brother, 16-year-old Xander, edited the video and put in some pictures. 

Based on videos, Blue Origins then chose three finalists from each region to interview. Who could not enjoy Tobias and the earnest answers from a smart child who’s not pompous or obnoxious?

Then it was a waiting game; Tobias said two months, but Bill said it only seemed that long. It was really three or four weeks. 

Tobias spent some of that time golfing – something he and his dad like to do. He’s been golfing since he was 4 years old and knows how to drive the golf cart, although he’s not allowed to drive it.

Finally the people from Blue Origins called for what they said was a final interview. Really it was to tell Tobias and the seven other finalists that they had won. 

Blue Origins astronaut Sharon Hagle, founder and CEO of SpaceKids Global, a non profit also involved in this press squad, was on the Zoom call, also.

Although Tobias hasn’t received information on when he’ll be traveling or a schedule of what he’ll be doing, he’s very excited about the trip.

The company did send a couple of questions to prepare Tobias. One is “ How did you become interested in space?” 

“In third grade, we did a unit about asteroids. I just learned about all the other planets and things, so it really started off with  asteroids. They’re really interesting,” Tobias said. “Did you know Earth was formed by asteroids colliding?” 

Tobias’s prize includes an airplane ticket to Orlando, Fla., with his mom or dad, hotel accommodations, food, a rental car and two days learning about Kennedy Space Center and Blue Origins Rocket Factory. 

Of course, being a 10-year-old information sponge, he’s been learning about some of the tests the astronauts undergo.

“The only thing I’m not so excited about is the beanbag. 

You have to stay inside a bean bag for the entire day, to see if you are claustrophobic. It sounds super boring,” Tobias said. 

Paraphrasing what astronaut Scott Carpenter famously said to astronaut John Glenn, “Godspeed,Tobias the space kid.”