Opportunity Inside the Storm
The stars and how it all works have always fascinated me, and thanks to the pandemic I can almost touch them now! As a little girl, I used to stare at the night sky looking at the stars and wishing that one day I could get a little closer to them, but I wasn't sure how. Those bright and color-changing lights have always made me wonder if there is more out there in the universe than what we already know, like another world or life, staring back at us. It wasn't until I was studying computer science that I had my first chance.
During my last semester at ECC community college, my professor introduced me to the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) program. While participating in this program, I got the chance to meet some official NASA employees, and learned about the opportunity to work for NASA as an intern. Right before applying, I noticed in the description that if selected I would have to fly to the center to do my internship and although this would be an amazing up-close experience, I am a mother of two boys and it would be too hard for my husband to take care of both of them alone. With the idea of being able to take care of my boys and follow my dreams I submitted my application and selected a center in New York City so I can stay local. I knew my chance of being selected were 1 in more than 16,000 people worldwide but I didn't let that discourage me. I gave my family the news about my experience and my decision to apply and I was surprised to see how excited they were for me. The time passed and the pandemic hit hard in New York City, and with this, my chances of ever doing an internship with NASA since all the local internships that I qualified for got either canceled or postponed. At this point, I felt disappointed and as if I had let my family down. I didn't know how to tell them that I had lost my chance. All of a sudden the pandemic had created a situation where people were not only losing their life, their jobs, but also their dreams. As a nontraditional Hispanic female student with two kids, a husband, and alone in this country, it hasn't been easy to pursue my childhood dream, but I made it this far and I was hoping to put into good use all my hard work.
A few more weeks passed and it was the end of July when all of a sudden I received news from my professors and NASA telling me that I had been selected to do an internship for the GSFC Maryland Center and due to the COVID-19 situation the internship was going to be fully virtual. I couldn't believe what I was hearing. Not only I was able to pursue my dream, but also I would be able to do it and not worry about leaving my kids for a few months! It was incredible; I would finally be a NASA employee!! This experience helped me see that even when there were sour moments through the pandemic, it also gave me an opportunity inside the storm.