Briefs: Keep up to date with East, local and national news.

Student Council’s Charity Committee will be making dog toys as a fundraiser for Wayside Waifs in mid-May. Similar to what StuCo has done in the past, the event will be held during seminar in the cafeteria. An official date has not yet been decided on, but Sophomore Class President Ingrid Blacketer says that the event can be expected in mid May. 

“There isn’t a dead-set date for this, because the planning process for it has just started,” Blacketer said. 

Wayside Waifs is a non-profit organization in Kansas City, Kan. that houses, trains and provides medical treatment to rescue animals.

Along with the Charity Committee, SHARE volunteers will craft dog toys from old T-shirts for the puppies. Participants will cut the T-shirts and tie them into balls or chew toys. Toys are one of many things that can be donated to support the non-profit, as well as food, money or time with the dogs. 

The Shawnee Mission School District is holding the “Next Great Idea” contest at the CAA on Apr. 29. The contest is under the Research and Development Forum. Family and friends of the presenters — or just interested individuals from the community — are encouraged to attend the presentations. 

The introductory and secondary rounds have already were completed in March. The finalists will be pitching their ideas to the Startland Judges — a group who provides a judge panel for various event — on April 29. Additionally, a practice presentation will be held on April 27.

The Next Great Idea contest provides students with an opportunity to pitch a business plan of their creation to a panel of judges who can make their goals happen by providing funding.

Sophomore Mariam Sufi is one of what she estimates to be 10-20 finalists this year.

Sufi based her project upon reading comprehension for language-learners. She started on this project six months ago. As the final competition approaches, Sufi says that the project has been challenging but rewarding. 

“It’s given me insight on what people do in real life to start up a business,” Sufi said, “It’s also taught me a lot about public speaking.”

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is working with the Canadian Space Agency to send Artemis II into space for the first time since Apollo 17. On this particular mission, the designated team will explore further into space than ever before, according to NASA.

According to NASA, Artemis II will be a pioneer for future space exploration. 

“Artemis II, the first crewed flight aboard NASA’s human deep space capabilities, paving the way for future lunar surface missions,” NASA officials wrote.

The crew of astronauts that will be boarding Artemis II for a total of 10 days consists of a commander, pilot and two mission specialists. Commander Reid Wiseman is responsible for leading the team through decision making and day-to-day events, according to NASA. 

Pilot Victor Glover is responsible for ensuring the team arrives and departs safely, as well as handling any technical aspects of the aircraft. 

Mission specialists, Christina Hammock Koch and Jeremy Hansen are responsible for knowing the mission inside and out — they must be the experts.

Chemistry teacher Susan Hallstrom interned at NASA in 2010 for two months, studying environmental science. Hallstrom says that working in NASA has given her an understanding of the dire needs for supporting and understanding the sciences. 

“These people are experts in things that most people wouldn’t even think about,” Hallstrom said.