Alexandros Tzioras has become the first Greek student to take part in the prestigious Summer Science Program (SSP) in the United States! The 17-year-old student from the General High School of the American Farm School has not only achieved a remarkable personal milestone but also made history for the Greek educational community, as SSP is recognized as one of the most demanding and highly regarded STEM programs in the world.

The program ran from June 15 to July 20, with Alexandros attending the session hosted at New Mexico State University. There, he had the chance to dive deeply into astronomy and astrophysics through an intensive academic and research experience totaling more than 300 hours. Participants worked on real scientific problems using advanced tools, programming, and collaborative problem-solving techniques.

Alexandros was selected from a pool of 588 students—both American and international—demonstrating his exceptional abilities. His achievement is the result of years of preparation through the Study USA program of the American Farm School. The acceptance rate for international applicants was below 3%, with over 3,700 applications submitted worldwide. At the New Mexico program, only 36 students participated, and just two were from outside the U.S.—Alexandros and one student from Romania.

“I didn’t realize how important computer science is in astronomy and astrophysics,” Alexandros said. “We had to write thousands of lines of code to solve complex problems.” His daily schedule included six hours of intensive classes, during which students tackled highly challenging problems under the guidance of three university professors and four SSP alumni now studying at top universities such as Harvard and MIT. Alexandros described the teaching level as “incredibly high” and noted that even Harvard and MIT students were taking detailed notes. “Our professors told us that we would only encounter problems of this level again in graduate school,” he added.

One of his projects involved calculating the orbit of asteroid 1656 Suomi, which passes by Mars, using the Gauss method. The SSP administration informed participants that their calculations would be used by NASA’s Center for Small Bodies to improve asteroid predictions.

For Alexandros, participating in SSP was not only a privilege but also the launchpad for his academic journey. Through his involvement in the Study USA program, he is now preparing to apply to top U.S. universities, aiming to study computer science—a field in which he already excels.