Ever since high school, I've always been known as the "helper" in any group. I remember always jumping at any opportunity to help, even if it was just getting paper towels to help clean up a spill. At a young age, I was taught to help people cause that’s what God wants us to do – be kind to others. While this trait has carried with me through my entire life in various ways, there are three main ways I have helped people through my life, each with three lessons I’m learning on how to help people better. The first lesson is perseverance. Even when you can’t see any fruit from your labors, keep showing up and doing your best. My biggest volunteering experience was when I joined the AWANA youth program at my church. I had aged out of the program and they needed people to help the elementary school kids in SPARKS memorize their verses. Helping the kids seemed more fun to me as a young teen than being in the long prayer meeting, so I gladly accepted the opportunity. During my 7+ years of helping children memorize Bible verses, I never knew how much of an impact it would have. Even today, I still don’t know how much they’ll remember about me or the verses I helped them learn. But one kid, Matthew, clicked with me well for a time. He loved space, the same as I do, and would always light up when I told him about space things. And during my time teaching him, he gave me no less than three hand-made cards telling me how much he appreciated me being his SPARKS teacher. And that made all the hard days feel a bit more worth it. The second lesson is to just show up and listen to instructions while doing your best. You can’t help anyone if you’re not even there. It doesn’t matter if you’re not “gifted”. As someone once told me, your willingness to learn and your work ethic is far more important than any of the hardware or software skills – those skills can be learned more easily than character traits. This happened to me as I was helping at a STEM camp called Camp Infinity. After being a camper for years, I came back as a photographer/media specialist for three years to give back to the camp I loved. And despite my lack of professional experience and introverted nature, God allowed me to take some pretty cool photos by just listening to my mentor and doing my best! Just make sure you’re listening to others’ feedback. As my mom says, the L in “help” is for listening – otherwise, you’re just “heping”. The third lesson is to bless others with the talents you’ve been given. Oftentimes my way of helping was just sharing the gifts God had given me. As someone who naturally did well in school, I found myself teaching peers during high school and college, whether it was substitute teaching chemistry in high school or tutoring math in college. I wanted to share that knowledge of the subject I had with them so that I could help them struggle less. Ultimately, helping isn't something that should be done just to check a box or earn some extra money or volunteer hours. It's done out of gratitude for the tremendous help we've received at our lowest. Helping others is how I can show them Christ's love. Though I don’t help perfectly, I hope I shine God’s love on the world and make people’s days a little brighter.

As a kid, I loved staring up at the stars. Stars and planets were magical, far-off places - so close and yet so far. Today, they don't seem any less magical. In fact, just thinking about them makes me want to explore them. My dream is to visit them one day, and explore these far off worlds in order to enjoy and better understand them. I want to better understand this universe, particularly space, for three main reasons. First, God has made me innately curious. I want to learn for learning's sake. There are so many amazing things that exist in this universe, and I want to explore as many of them as possible so I can personally enjoy their existance. This innate curiosity exists in more than just me, though. It exists in every explorer that's ever lived, every inventor, every composer, every creator. Anyone who looked at anything and wanted to know what it could or couldn't do, what *they* could or couldn't do with their medium. That's part of why explorers explore - they want to see the world because they're curious about what's out there. That's part of why inventors invent - they're curious about their own capabilities and if a contraption that does x could exist. That's why composer compose - they're curious about how they can either convey certain emotions through music or how they can push the bounds of music to do new things. We express curiosity because we are made in God's image. God is the ultimate Creator who knows everything, so in making us in His image He gave us the ability and desire to create and learn. We then use this innate desires to explore the world around us, and gain joy from it in the process. Second, studying the universe gives us a larger appreciation for God. God reveals Himself to us in part through his creation. The intricacies of organisms, the vastness of space, the beauty in everything surrounding us screams that there is a Creator. Studying the creation, then, allows us to better appreciate God as Creator. Third, studying God's creation enables us to learn from the best Creator and use what we've learned in our own life, all through a process called biomimicry. You ever wonder how engineers get inspiration for their crazy ideas? A lot of it is from nature. Velcro, road reflectors, and even new methods of aviation are all inspired from real-life plants and animals. By gaining a better understanding of how this universe works, we can then use what we've learned to invent things that make the world a better place. In order for me to better understand the universe, I will employ the concepts of hard work, determination, and fulfilling my purpose. Hark work and determination are required in understanding the nature of our universe because, well, the universe is complicated. I will never fully understand everything. However, with determination (the want and drive to reach my goal of learning) and hard work (the method by which I can learn), I can slowly learn more and more. Fulfilling my purpose is also a crucial component in better understanding the universe because I was created for this purpose. As discussed earlier, all humans were created in the image of God. As such, we were created to glorify God and enjoy Him. Part of enjoying Him is appreciating all He has made, and the best ways to appreciate something are to use it and understand it better. By better understanding the universe, we appreciate the God who made it and then can use our understanding to use creation in ways that help other human beings.

My best back-to-school tip is to not worry about reading every word on a page for every textbook you have. Instead, focus on the parts you NEED to know for the homework, quizzes, tests, etc. Those are the most important parts of the textbook. If you have time, then go back and read the whole chapter. I say this because I am both a perfectionist and a procrastinator, and I have often fallen into the situation where there is homework due that night but I haven't read the chapter(s) it covers. Thus, I need to figure out how to finish the homework well and on time. My social media: Facebook: Anastasia Ericson Twitter: @raela2059 Youtube: Anastasia Raela Jynn

My favorite scientific discovery is the discovery of magnification. I love this discovery because it has allowed us to explore so much more than we can see with the naked eye. First, through magnification used in microscopes, we can see microscopic things like bacteria, viruses, and cells. We can study things like chemistry and biology that would be much harder without magnification, and learn more about the little things that affect us in huge ways. Second, through other versions of magnification, we can explore far away objects. This is what helped explorers discover new lands and now lets astronomers discover new stars and planets. Even I can now explore far away objects in space through the use of my camera's magnification! Third, the general public has benefited from the discovery of magnification in smaller, more practical ways, through the creation of glasses (see https://targetstudy.com/knowledge/invention/23/magnifying-glass.html)! I actually use this form of magnification in my own life. In short, without magnification, we would be blind in so many ways to the amazing world around us.

My passion can essentially be boiled into two main words: space and creativity. This creativity expresses itself in two main ways, writing and music. I've been passionate about space for as long as space stretches. Ever since I was three years old, I've wanted to be an astronaut. This let to me getting a spacesuit from my grandma when I was five. I was so excited by it! This passion continued as I would stargaze with my dad in parking lots any time we could see any stars or planets. It also expressed itself in my huge collection of space books and my constant ramblings to anyone who would listen to me about space. In middle school, my love for space led me to become concerned and upset about the problem of space junk - man-made debris in space that can cripple spacecraft due to its fast velocity as it flies around in orbit around Earth. This concern drew me to come up with an idea for a space station to help fix this problem. This, in turn, combined with a Christian STEM camp I became involved in due to a love of space, led me to pursue the career field of engineering. Currently, I hold an associate's degree in engineering and am pursuing a bachelor's in astronautical engineering. I've been passionate about writing since middle school. I loved making up creative writing assignments in English class, as often as possible basing them on the TV shows I loved. As I got into high school, I explored writing in other genres, such as murder mystery and historical fiction. However, most of my creative writing assignments, as well as my main creative writing projects, have been in the sci-fi fanfiction genre. My main two projects are both sci-fi books with a horror element. My love of writing led me to sign up for a Young Writers' Workshop (YWW), which I plan to use to strengthen my works in progress and finally complete a book! My ultimate goal is to complete both of them and work on the historical fiction story and the murder mystery I had worked on in high school. I've been passionate about music for almost as long as I have been passionate about space. I started taking piano lessons when I was five years old, and ended my lessons in 2020, having completed twelve years of consecutive piano lessons. During this time, I learned how to compose, and wrote several compositions. Just like my writing, most of my later compositions were based on the sci-fi shows I enjoyed. I also have a love of mashing songs together. This can happen in three ways. First, I can string songs together, playing several songs back to back and trying to connect them so it sounds like one long piece. Second, I can sing one established set of song lyrics to a different established song and have them work. I love to do this especially with hymns, and the concept is really fascinating to me. Third, I can make parodies of songs, creating my own lyrics to an established tune. This is one of my favorite things to do since I can enjoy the music I love while still creating something original. I use my music skills to complement my creative writing project, particularly by making parodies of songs or creating my own. Thus, while I'm not passionate about one single thing, I have enough passion in my heart to spread to several areas. And these areas, though they may not relate, have each impacted my life and career.

I only embody selflessness by the grace of Jesus Christ, but He strengthens me to show kindness to others. Selflessness is just thinking of others more highly than yourself, which is a biblical concept. I can't say I constantly embody selflessness, but I do try by God's help to obey Jesus by helping others in the little ways I can. And God has blessed me with skills and is guiding my heart to serve others. The main way I help others in need is in my church. My church does an Awana program, in which kids memorize Scripture, and they need leaders for kids to say their verses to. I've been helping in this program since 2016, and it's been a blessing to talk with the kids and to be a blessing, encouraging presence to them. I also help in the nursery, though that is a lot less regular due to scheduling. Another way I enjoy helping others, though it is harder to do, is buying groceries or fast food meals for homeless people on the streets. When I see them on the streets holding signs, I will sometimes drive to a fast food restaurant and buy them a meal. Or, if I'm on my way to the grocery store, I will try to buy extra groceries that I think will be helpful to them. Another way I have helped others is in schoolwork. Since school subjects generally come easy to me (due to God's grace), I am able to help others with their homework. I've been a substitute chemistry teacher for my homeschool co-op when I was a sophomore and junior in high school. The teacher knew I loved chemistry and did very well in it, so she requested that I teach class for a week while she was out of town. After I did the one week as a sophomore, she asked me the next year if I could do it again. The students seemed helped by my teaching in that we got through a lot of concepts quickly (more than the teacher usually did), and the students still understood all the concepts! I've also worked in my community college's student math tutor program, where I've helped students in different levels of math. This ranged from developmental math, such as alegbra, to higher level courses like calculus. Originally I was tutoring in-person, but due to Covid I ended up tutoring through Zoom.

The main reason I am pursuing a degree in STEM is because I want to be an astronaut. I've wanted this since I was three years old, falling in love with space and pursuing it to be my life's work ever since. However, the older I get, the more obstacles I realize exist in my path. The first obstacle I faced was my gender, and that started when I was in elementary school. When I was at a Chick-fil-a with my dad, they had space toys in the kids meals. I was so excited that night. However, as we were leaving, the man behind us saw the toys as he was getting the kids' meals for his daughters. He said "Those aren't girls' toys," and wanted different toys for his daughters. This broke my heart, and I cried in my dad's arms in that Chick-fil-a. My parents were and have always been supportive of my love for space and my desire to work in the space field, so I was shocked when exposed at a young age to the idea that girls couldn't and shouldn't appreciate and enjoy space. The second obstacle I faced was my education. I was homeschooled, which I honestly preferred, but that meant I didn't get the robotics and other STEM hands-on experiences that were actively made available to public school kids. Thus, I feel behind my peers experience-wise, which puts me at a disadvantage for internships and job opportunities. The third obstacle I currently face is my age. I am at an age where I am too old for all the new opportunities that are being made available to middle and high school students, and even community college students (since I started community college young). However, I also feel like I am at an age where I am too young for all the new opportunities in the workforce that are being made available by programs like SpaceX, NASA's Artemis, and the Space Force. The fourth obstacle I currently face is my health. My health situation is such that it is very unlikely that I will get to be an astronaut, which saddens me. I'm too short, I'm overweight, and I have chronic medical conditions and poor eyesight, things that are not optimal in a person living in space. The fifth obstacle I currently face is my financial situation. My dad recently retired unexpectedly, which puts me in the position of trying to find a job to help support myself through college, since my family can't really provide me with any more money to go to school. This puts more pressure on me (whether stated or self-inflicted) to pick up jobs, which takes away from school time. The sixth and most difficult obstacle I face is myself. While all of these other obstacles can possibly be overcome, the ultimate factor in most, if not all of them, is me. Will I put in the effort to get in shape? Will I promote my skills and argue that I am valuable to the space industry? Will I put in the extra work, possibly more than anyone else, to not only find opportunities to shine, but to learn as much as I can? That is a daily struggle for me, and often I feel discouraged because my goals seem so far away, and the effort to reach them so futile. However, with God's strength I am determined to fight through these obstacles and pursue the field I believe He created me to work in. And when I do overcome these obstacles, I will look back and praise Him.

My current favorite was both an artist and a scientist - a jack-of-all-trades and a master of all of them. He revolutionized nearly every field he touched (science, art, engineering) and everyone thought highly of him much. I aspire to be like him in my excursions, with his many talents and constantly varied explorations. I'd love to have met him, for you see, his name is Leonardo da Vinci.

I have grown up loving outer space, with dreams to be an astronaut since I was three years old. I remember one event that has stuck with me since I was five. My dad and I were at Chick-fil-a, and they had Kid's Meal spaceship toys then. I was ecstatic! As we were leaving the cashier counter, the man behind us got his order with his two daughters, but when he saw the spaceship toys, said "Those aren't for girls" and wanted to exchange them. I cried, and my dad comforted me, but I've never forgotten that moment. Even as I am writing this, I still have that spaceship toy on my school desk, to remind me. Some people in society like to divide us - they like to say "This is for girls, that is for boys, and if you like x then you must really be a boy/girl." While it's true some things are and should be separated by gender, most professions have no good basis for this. So society shouldn't tell us what we can or can't be or can and can't do- those things need to be based in truth, in the Bible. However, this doesn't mean society should praise every last thing women do and put down men. Far from it! A society that puts down any of its members (not treating them the way Jesus commands in Scripture) is not a just society, and a just society is what we should be striving for. No, rather, society should empower women just by treating them normally, as equals. Don't hire based on gender - hire based on skill. Don't write off men as being stupid - women do stupid things, too. We all do stupid things. Don't constantly praise women - sure, praise is good, but we're not perfect. No one is. One of the best ways I have personally been empowered is just local opportunities at my community college. For example, I'm doing undergraduate research about asteroids and where they are located in the sky. Is it "exclusively for men"? No. Is it "exclusively for women"? No! Is it a program made for students who love STEM? Yes. And that's the point. The Bible says that men and women are equally made in God's image and equally valued. Though generally, men and women have different roles, a lot of those roles aren't and don't have to be gender-specific. Furthermore, the Bible says to speak "only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen" (Ephesians 4:29, NIV). This means not putting down men and over-praising women. Treat them as equally valuable. In short, to most effectively empower women, society should look to its Creator, Jesus, and follow what He has laid out in His Word, the Bible. May Jesus draw you closer to Himself.

As part of my Intro to MATLAB class, I did an honors contract project plotting the orbits of the Earth (green and light blue), the Moon (the line orbiting the Earth), Mars (the red and pink circle), and a spacecraft's path from Earth to Mars and back (making a stop to orbit Mars for a bit) through Hohmann transfers. I then modified it and presented it to other students at Howard Community College's Scholars Symposium (the first time I've attended this!). It was well-received by my mentor and an amazing experience for me.