Students throughout the territory are getting the chance to see what a career in space could look like.
NASA is hosting an event this week at the University of the Virgin Islands to encourage students to explore a career with the space center.
More than 300 students are participating in the week-long event that takes place over all three islands, St. Thomas, St. John and St. Croix.
It’s NASA’s chance to explain what they do and how our young students can get involved in paid summer internships.
“We’ve been coming to the islands off and on for the last ten years and the reason why we come is just the excitement we receive from the students and the looks on their face when they understand that they can actually work for NASA internships and build careers and excitement in STEM,” Genger Benson-Perez with NASA Education Outreach said.
“Some people might not know that we have a new physics program at UVI Bachelor of Sciences in Physics program and that is supported by NASA programs,” David Morris a UVI Professor of Physics said.
“I think it is really cool to see all of the cool work they’re doing, what they’re working on, how it’s a big group of people coming together to create something really amazing and how science is bringing us to new heights,” Grace Randall a senior said.
“I want to be an engineer. I’ve been wanting that for a long time now. This will only push me to go towards it,” Garnett Johnson a junior added.
“I’m getting to learn a lot, like how things operate in the NASA system. It is pretty cool. I notice things I never noticed before, like the water and pressure, the things they use to cancel the vibrations so the rockets don’t get interrupted. It was really interesting to learn about and it’s cool and fun as well,” Renaldo Burley another junior said.
The program wraps up on Friday in St. Croix.
