To paraphrase astronaut Ellen Ochoa, Elgin Community College student Anala Thakkar has been demonstrating the motivation, perseverance and desire to participate in a voyage of discovery.
Since August, Thakkar, 19, of South Elgin, has been taking part in the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars program, an initiative renowned for its rigor and competitiveness that draws applicants from across the United States.
The program’s website states that those chosen for it “can expect to advance their capabilities in STEM, helping to prepare them for better representation and service in STEM fields.”
“It’s been great meeting different people from NASA, hearing their stories and learning about their interesting backgrounds,” Thakkar said.
Thakkar was one of 600 students selected from among 6,000 applicants to take part in the program’s Mission 1, according to an ECC news release. That was a five-week online course that ran in August and early September, Thakkar said. It provided an orientation of the aerospace field and to the work that NASA does.
Next, Thakkar was selected to move onto Mission 2, an intensive, week-long, online session in late October where students worked in groups on projects related to a mission to the moon.
Thakkar said her role was to head science communication, turning her group’s research into a cohesive presentation about the use of a lunar rover members designed. She also researched how best to transmit data between Earth and the moon. Thakkar said she wound up putting in 10-hour days on Mission 2.
“It was a bit terrifying, but we managed through it,” Thakka said.
Thakkar said she won’t hear until April about being accepted into the program’s culmination – Mission 3, a three-week capstone project. Thakkar said that it will be held in June, with the first two weeks involving online preparation, followed by a week spent at a NASA Field Center.
The program’s website indicates the final phase will feature science, technology, engineering and math-based activities, including an engineering design challenge as well as facility tours, live subject matter expert presentations, a resume workshop, a networking event, a job shadowing opportunity and a four-year college campus visit.
More Top Picks Best Easels For Oil Painting
Thakkar plans to finish her studies at ECC this coming spring. She’s in the process of applying to universities across the country and intends to major in physics.
Thakkar’s father, Mihir, is a computer engineer. Her brother, Ravi, has a degree from the University of Illinois in computer engineering. And her paternal grandfather, Manhar, is a civil engineer.
While her family is STEM-oriented, Thakkar said that’s not what piqued her interest in physics.
That happened in eighth grade during an Elgin School District U-46 career fair in Hoffman Estates where she met a woman who works at Fermilab in Batavia.
“That made me really interested in physics. It seemed really cool,” Thakkar said.
What Thakkar enjoys about the subject is how scientists are able to learn more and more about the universe by observation as well as the mathematics involved in the process.
What Thakkar said she has learned so far from being involved with the NASA program are lessons in persistence and in taking advantage of opportunities.
“You miss all the shots if you don’t try taking them,” Thakkar said.
Mike Danahey is a freelancer.