Nina Darcie is on her way to fulfilling her dream of becoming an aerospace engineer.
In her first year at Penn State, Darcie (freshman-aerospace engineering) has already made her post-college career search easier, thanks to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA) Motivating Undergraduates in Science and Technology (MUST) program.
The program allowed Darcie to participate in an all-expenses paid orientation and leadership symposium in Orlando, Fla., for five days in August. Darcie was one of 100 students chosen to attend the symposium -- a chance she said she won't forget.
"The experience of being in Florida was absolutely awesome," she said. "Many of the facilitators were directors of space centers or other NASA officials. It was a great opportunity to network."
Holly Triska, MUST Project Director at the Hispanic College Fund, wrote in an e-mail that promoting diversity is the purpose of the program.
"The MUST Project reinforces NASA's efforts to reflect the diversity of our nation's population in the workforce," Triska wrote. "The project works to develop a highly qualified and diverse [science, technology, engineering and mathematics] applicant pool, and it inspires underrepresented students to pursue a career at NASA."
Darcie said she came across the MUST program while applying for scholarships during her senior year of high school and the summer that followed.
"I was trying to apply to a lot of scholarships when it came through my FAFSA web account," Darcie said. "I saw it, thought it looked good, applied for it and I eventually got it. I was so thrilled."
Apart from attending seminars and hearing speakers, Darcie said the group was able to tour areas of the Kennedy Space Center typically not open to the public.
"We got to see the chamber where they keep rockets stored along with the launch pad, though we couldn't go on it because they were fueling a rocket at the time being," Darcie said.
Networking is one of the top things Darcie said she took from the program, along with the opportunity to have a choice in interning this coming summer with facilities like the Kennedy Space Center. Darcie said she would strongly encourage others to apply to the program.
"Absolutely do it. Don't think that because a lot of people apply, you won't make it because there is definitely a good chance that you could," Darcie said.
