Many people spend hours thinking of what they want to do when they’re older, often dreaming of things like acting, singing, science, medicine and endless other careers. For senior Audrey Compton, aerospace engineering is her biggest interest.
Aerospace engineering is a broad topic, but Compton has a pretty good idea of what she wants to specify.
“I’m just gonna see how college goes and see what I want to specify in, but I am leaning more towards astronautical, so rockets and space as opposed to airplanes,” Compton said.
Ever since she was young, rockets have been a big part of her life. When she reached school age, Compton discovered her skill in science and math, which pushed her more towards Aerospace.
“When I was younger, my brothers and my dad and I used to launch model rockets with rocket fuel. Rockets have always been part of my life,” Compton said. “I started to like space and I’ve always been good at science and math and so I was like well, science and math and space, why not aerospace?”
Compton has taken a lot of steps to prepare for her possible career. She has taken classes like physics, calculus, and aerospace engineering, but she even took it a step further and participated in a summer internship program at St. Louis University, which let her interact with adults in the program and learn more.
“I was able to like work on simulations with satellites and I was able to build a miniature satellite with a few other people. We also got to interview other people in the career field,” Compton said. “It solidified my interest in aerospace through the class.”
Compton participates in many activities outside of school, including water polo, color guard, and robotics, which can be hard to manage with her interest in aerospace.
“From time to time, it can be a bit of a struggle balancing like the classes that I take because of [my] interests. As long as I manage my time correctly, I’m mostly fine,” Compton said.
Compton had many options for college, but in the end, her first choice was Purdue, which she recently got accepted into.
“Purdue [was] my top choice because they have one of the highest ranking aerospace engineering curriculums in the country. [I] also looked and applied to Texas A.M., University of Florida and then my backups [were] Missouri S&T, USF and Mizzou,” Compton said.
Not only does she have colleges she had to look into, she also has corporations to consider, though it is not her first priority.
“[I’d aim for] NASA if I had to pick right now. [I’m] not a huge fan of Elon Musk, so I would like to avoid SpaceX, and then Boeing is 50/50 for me. There’s a lot of ethical problems when it comes to aerospace, so I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.”
