This summer I had the pleasure of interning at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. I interned in the center’s Office of Education working in public outreach. I coordinated center tours and events, worked in communication, wrote articles, and worked in broadcasting. NASA Langley Research Center offers the LARSS (Langley Aerospace Research Student Scholars Program) for college students. The LARSS program is ten-weeks long, and allows students of many different majors to experience what it would be like to work in the real world and within an organization like NASA.
Over the course of my ten weeks at NASA Langley, I explored many opportunities and experienced the best summer of my life. Being a junior, Communication Studies major with a concentration in Mass Media, I was initially nervous about my place at NASA, which is mainly STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) related. After diving right into broadcasting to other centers and schools through NASA’s Digital Learning Network (DLN), I found that NASA was offering more than I could ever imagine.
Another key contribution that I made to NASA’’s mission during my internship, was coordinating a major Virginia teacher development workshop, called NASA and Radford University’s Modeling and Simulation Mathematic Teacher Workshop. Through this event planning experience, I got to explore more about the public relations and organizations concentration of the Communication Studies program. I put together a two-week workshop for 16 in-service Virginia mathematics teachers. I organized speakers, tours and other events for the workshop as well.
At NASA Langley, I also got to play a key part in public outreach. I was able to use my experiences from being a Longwood Ambassador to organize and escort tours for the Langley Research Center for various groups and organizations that requested visits. I also got to go out into the community of Hampton Roads and Virginia Beach and represent NASA Langley at various NASA sponsored events.
For my internship, I also got to write articles and small reports/releases for the Office of Education that eventually endted up getting published on NASA Langley’s Education webpage and also in center emails. I got the opportunity to write a feature article about myself and my time at NASA Langley. I also assisted in interviewing and helping two other interns who were writing a large feature story on the LARSS internship program’s last year, before it centralizes into a new NASA internship program called NIFS.
I was also given the opportunity to help write scripts and record various videos with other interns for NASA, as well as assist the LARSS internship staff with summer intern events. In the DLN, I hosted a few virtual visits with schools and camps, by introducing NASA experts for their presentation segments.
One of the most enjoyable parts of my internship at NASA was touring the center. I was able to tour many wind tunnels, labs, crash test zones, plane hangars, model shops, and meet some of the smartest people in the world along the way.
NASA Langley, especially the LARSS internship program, is very unique. As an intern, I attended various networking events and lectures almost every week. These events allowed me to network with other interns and NASA employees. The weekly lectures taught me things and allowed me to meet people I would have never thought I would ever get to meet in my life. I even got to meet an astronaut, men who helped land the rover on Mars, and other amazing scientists, engineers, journalists, and educators.
Although I did all of that during my internship, my favorite part was meeting other interns and NASA employees, making connections, and experiencing things I never thought I ever could experience in my life.
With the help of my multiple mentors at NASA Langley and co-workers, I can honestly say I learned a lot about myself, my future career path, and about the real world. Being an aspiring journalist, I never thought I would end up at NASA, but NASA Langley gave me the best summer of my life.
