As early as I can remember, I’ve always really liked math and science. I took extra math classes after school in Junior High and helped to establish a Science Club when I was in high school. When I was a freshman in high school, I was lucky enough to win a free trip to a space camp in Kansas. I absolutely loved learning about space history and NASA, and even completing a pretend Space Shuttle mission.
After coming back from that week of space camp, I couldn’t stop talking about it. From then on, I knew that I wanted to do anything space-related when I grew up. I went to an all-girls high school in St. Louis, MO. My teachers were all very encouraging and wanted to help me pursue a career in space. I went to college at Saint Louis University where I studied Physics and Aeronautics.
I also went back to space camp to work as a counselor during the summers. After college I was hired to work at NASA Johnson Space Center in Mission Control for Space Shuttle Missions! After the last shuttle mission was over, I started working in Mission Control for the International Space Station. Now I work for the Extravehicular Activity (EVA) group, which is a fancy name for spacewalk.