Space Camp Fuels Eighth-Grader’s Star Potential

BY LAURA J. MONDUL
SPECIAL TO THE HERALD COURIER

CASTLEWOOD, Va. – Tyler Carter isn’t an astronaut – at least not yet. But becoming a space jockey is one of the many futures this 13-year-old is considering.
An eighth-grader at Castlewood Elementary School, Tyler is an outstanding student who has impressed his teachers and parents with his skills in math and science. He has won awards two years at the Russell County Science Fair. And for his fourth-grade project, Tyler built a complex model of the telegraph system, including the first four cities in the United States that were connected by telegraph – Chicago, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Philadelphia. 
For three years in a row, Tyler earned a perfect score on his math Standard of Learning test.
Because of his achievements, Tyler received a grant from Northrop Grumman, a national defense and aerospace company, that allowed him to attend Space Camp at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala., this past summer.
“Tyler is an exceptional young man,” said his teacher, Pat Nash, who also attended the Space Camp. “He is very curious and loves to learn new things, and has an ability to reason that is very unusual for a child his age. I’m very proud of him.”
During his six days at Space Camp, Tyler was able to participate in missions and other aerospace-related activities, including a simulated flight of the space shuttles Discovery and Endeavor. Tyler served as commander of the flights, which is the equivalent of the pilot. He also learned about the Apollo missions and the Aries rockets, and built and launched model rockets.
Other activities included physical challenge games. In one, participants had to walk on boards placed on cinder blocks, bringing the boards along with them as they navigated the course, never touching the ground.
“It was exciting,” Tyler said. “I had a lot of fun and made new friends.”
Tyler’s father, Sandy Carter, works for Strongwell in Bristol, Va., which might be an impetus for Tyler’s interest in engineering and science.
“I’ve always brought stuff home from work and let him read it, like training manuals and videos,” Sandy Carter said. “He’ll go through those videos and come home at night and talk about them, and half the time I don’t know what he’s talking about – he understands it better than I do.”
Tyler has used the information he’s gleaned from the training videos, detailing pneumatics, hydraulics, electrical and more, to develop practical applications for the family farm in Castlewood, which has been in the family for four generations. He wrote a program for a water system for the farm and installed a hydraulic cylinder, among other projects.
Additionally, Tyler works on farm equipment, sometimes handling the welding and using a drill press and other equipment. He even drove the tractor and baled hay by himself this past year – under his father’s watchful eye, of course.
“I tied a string from his leg to the stop of the tractor so if he moved, it would cut off,” Sandy Carter recalled, laughing.
Though Tyler might be an unusually bright young man, he still enjoys all of the things other kids do. He has five dogs: four Great Pyrenees and a golden retriever. The family raises cattle and sheep on their farm, and Tyler can tally their numbers off the top of his head – 21 cows and 20 sheep, as well as four miniature horses that he takes to the county fair every year.
When he’s not working, inventing or building, Tyler enjoys riding his dirt bike around the farm, though that sometimes still counts as work, like when he recently had to round up a loose horse from his dirt bike.
“It was so fun,” Tyler said. “I was riding right alongside him – I could touch him.”
Tyler also enjoys doing media presentations and running the audio system for the Brick Baptist Church in Castlewood, which the Carters attend. He has prepared PowerPoint presentations for the church as well.
Though Tyler would like to stay in the area when he grows up, his parents are adamant that he continue his education. And while his opportunities in the workforce likely are many, Tyler said he wants to be an engineer or a certified electrician.
“I haven’t been shocked enough yet,” he explained with a grin.
Whatever his choice, Tyler has the support of his family.
“Tyler is just remarkable,” Sandy Carter said. “It’s unreal everything he does. He’s already done things that I’ve never dreamed of.”