Rehobeth High School Student Selected For Prestigious NASA Internship
REHOBETH, Ala. (WDHN) — One rising junior at Rehobeth High School student is taking her talents to NASA.
Charlee Chandler is one of 50 students across the country competitively selected for an internship at the University of Texas Austin’s Student Enhancement in Earth and Space Science program, which NASA sponsors.
In the internship, the Rehobeth High School junior will conduct hands-on research with experts, learn coding, and even get to design an experiment that will fly on the Zero G aircraft, which flies a certain way such that zero gravity is briefly experienced.
“It’s just so many opportunities, and they’re too good to give up on,” she says.
Before going to UT Austin, Chandler will work remotely with her project scientist, complete an earth and space science course, have the opportunity to learn Python coding, and conduct microgravity research.
Chandler says she expects to gain valuable experience in research, which she can add to her past internships in artificial intelligence and neuroscience.
“If you like aerospace engineering, then NASA is the best of the best. So when I saw this program, when I saw this opportunity, I said you know, I would be letting down a whole group of people and I would be letting down myself if I didn’t take it.”
But for Chandler, the opportunity represents so much more than herself.
She sees herself as representing women in STEM, a traditionally male-dominated field, and hopes to bring attention to rural communities for women in STEM. She also hopes to represent The Wiregrass on a larger stage.
“Not only are you going to be outnumbered just because of statistics and other factors, but you’re gonna be outnumbered because you’re in an area… [that has] less opportunity,” she says. “We can be put at a disadvantage, but we all have the opportunity to go above and rise above.
Chandler says one’s passion can help significantly rise above any predicament. Still, she encourages others to, at the very least, try to pursue their passions, no matter what the odds are.
For STEM, she encourages others to enter the field and take similar opportunities and risks to the ones she has taken.
Chandler says, “STEM is for everyone, and everyone deserves access to educational opportunities, and everyone deserves to pursue what they like, no matter their gender, no matter their race, no matter their socioeconomic background.”
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