NASA opens STEM doors for Redlands students
Nursing major earns trip to Kennedy Space Center
EL RENO — The chance to study STEM disciplines by interacting with NASA engineers sounded too good to be true, but Redlands Community College nursing student Alyssa Wheeler applied for the program anyway.
After completing a five-week online course with quizzes and a final paper, she was selected to go to Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. In October, she toured facilities, met with scientists and engineers about their work, and joined other students in building a rover.
“It was a really cool experience,” said Wheeler, 19, of Yukon. “I had never thought of doing anything but nursing.”
Watching scientists work on future missions to Mars — and seeing how excited they were about their projects — made her think twice.
“I really saw her confidence go up,” said Kate Coughlan, head of the science department at Redlands. “When she returned she said, ‘I want to be an engineer.’ NASA will do that to you.”
As the NASA grant coordinator at Redlands, Coughlan promotes the space agency’s events and programs.
Wheeler was in her class last spring when Coughlan told the students about the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program.
Students from across the nation who have an interest and aptitude for mathematics, science, engineering or computer science are chosen to participate through a competitive process.
Coughlan said students often are surprised that community college can “open these kinds of doors.”
The NASA program encourages them to finish a two-year degree or transfer to a university to pursue a NASArelated field or career. It inspires them to explore various STEM fields and helps them understand NASA offers many careers beyond engineer and astronaut — jobs such as biologist, chemist, computer scientist, nurse and physical therapist, Coughlan said.
“It tells them you can do this,” Coughlan said. “The sooner you get students involved in STEMrelated fields you have a better chance of retaining them in STEM.”
Wheeler said the fiveweek online course was demanding, but the hardest part was waiting to learn if she would be invited to go to the space center.
“It was probably only two weeks. I doubted myself a lot,” she said. Then the invitation for expenses-paid trip came.
During her four days in Florida, she formed friendships with other students on her team as they worked to build their rover and put it through tests.
“It was a lot of work,” Wheeler said.
“We each had different strengths and had to work together,” she said. “We had a really good bond.”
Coughlan said it’s great to see students from across the country come together in a team and cheer each other on.
Wheeler was the fifth Redlands student selected for the program, she said.
From Redlands, Wheeler plans to transfer to Southern Nazarene University to complete her bachelor’s degree in nursing.
But she is keeping her options open after seeing the space shuttle Atlantis and hearing Barbara Morgan talk about her careers as a teacher, scientist and astronaut.
“We encourage the students when they go (to NASA) to keep an open mind,” Coughlan said.