Way Cool Student Scientists
West Valley High School – Cottonwood, CA
Some people look at Mars and see a desolate planet of rocks and red
dust. For one teacher and two students from Cottonwood, California,
Mars has become a very exciting and beautiful place.
Brian, Cherise and Tim are members of the Athena
Student Interns Program (ASIP) that is giving high school students
from across the nation the chance to work with the scientists of the
Mars Exploration Rover Project.
Brian Grigsby is the Coordinator of the Science Programs for
Shasta County Office
of Education. He has lived in Redding, California nearly all of his
life and says “I find it a joy to work in the community with the
people that helped give me the spark for science in the first
place.” He is now serving as a contact between Mars Rover mentor
scientist Nathalie Cabrol and
students Cherise and Tim.
Cherise has always been interested in science. As a freshman, she was
one of a select group of students to be chosen for a junior level
biology class. She has also studied chemistry and is involved in
leadership and scholarship programs at West Valley High. She plays the
piano and enjoys drawing, painting, and tutoring younger students. She
would like to pursue a career with NASA. She says, “Because of
this program (ASIP) I have become positive that this is what I want to
do when I am older.”
Tim is interested in biology, chemistry, and physics. He is a member of
West Valley’s varsity soccer team, and likes to snowboard and
juggle. His goal – to become an astronaut.
Both students are helping Cabrol examine the images sent from Mars by
the Spirit rover to determine where the rover should travel and what it
should investigate. In mid-February, 2004 they will travel to the Jet
Propulsion Lab in Pasadena, CA to get some first-hand experience doing
science on another world.
On a recent field trip to JPL to participate in an Operations Readiness
Test with the Mars Rover team, the West Valley ASIP team spent some time
with Cabrol on a late night shift. They learned that many scientists
were very willing to share information. Tim remarks “The field
trip to JPL was incredible. I learned a lot about Mars and how it is
explored. The scientists were very helpful and wanted to include us in
everything.” Cherise adds, “It is very exciting to be there
first hand while my questions are being answered…I can’t
believe that I am actually getting the chance to do what I am
doing.”
Cabrol is a planetary geologist who specializes in the study of Mars and
its landforms for evidence of ancient shorelines and terraces. She
recently returned from the
Licancabur
volcano in Bolivia where she studied the affects of extreme
conditions on living organisms. Brian was lucky enough to join the
expedition during its first year in 2002. He says “That
experience forever changed my life. To experience science in the field
and to climb to the top of 20,000 foot volcano is exhilarating.”
And now he is part of a NASA mission to Mars. Brian says “Mars is
an unbelievably beautiful place. With the largest volcano in the Solar
System, to the deepest canyons, Mars has a wealth of beautiful places to
visit…One of my biggest dreams was to be involved in this type of
NASA study.”
Both Cherise and Tim share their teacher’s excitement about the
mission and about Mars. “I really can’t believe that I will
be there when the rovers are on Mars, and that I get to help the
scientists. It’s really amazing” says Cherise. For Tim the
excitement stems from working on a NASA mission with real scientists and
real data. Both students feel their experience in the Athena Student
Interns Program will have a lasting effect. Since the field trip to
JPL, Cherise has been communicating with a scientist via email. She
says “I feel with his help, I could really learn how to get a job
with NASA.” Tim enjoys seeing the inner workings of the space
agency. He says, “I think this experience will help me as I go
further in my scientific career.”
Cherise has a message for other students: “Redding is a very
little area compared to San Francisco and L.A. and I want kids to see
that just because you come from a rural area, it doesn’t mean that
you can’t do big things. And I think that our team is a good
example of that and I hope that other kids understand this and go for
their dreams just like I am doing.”
