William Edwards, Cody Franz and Alexander Kulsa have been selected as 2009 Washington Aerospace Sch-olars. The Bonney Lake High juniors are among 260 accepted students across the state, said Melissa Edwards, WAS administrator.

The scholarship program, sponsored by Museum of Flight, is an educational program that encourages high school juniors to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math. It includes two fields: distance learning and summer residency. The former involves NASA-designed curriculum that covers the history of space exploration, space shuttle, the international space station, the moon and Mars, Edwards said.

Each student will complete 10 lessons via quizzes, math solutions, essays and graphics and also complete a final project with a graphic and then compete for one of four summer residency sessions.

The residency is a six-day program that includes planning a mission to Mars with the help of engineers, scientists, university students and educators. They will receive briefings from aerospace professionals, tour engineering facilities and hands-on challenges using model rocketry, robotics, landing devices and payload lofting.