My Greatest Achievement by Lelia

My Greatest Achievement by Lelia - August 2023 Scholarship Essay

Getting a JPL internship would be my greatest academic achievement. I was one of the five Glendale Unified School District high school students chosen for the internship. I had to complete multiple interviews and create an essay explaining why I was interested in JPL in order to be accepted. The accomplishment I'm most proud of is this one, not only because it was my first job but also because I got to spend a lot of time using tools that most college students don't get to use until graduate school. I got to work with a lot of interesting people, learn about their backgrounds, and learn more about other fields of engineering that I might like to pursue in the future.

I've been interested in engineering since my sophomore year of high school. Although I've taken multiple engineering courses at my school, as well as manufacturing courses, I wasn't sure what area of engineering I wanted to pursue. I had the opportunity to make connections with professionals in the fields of optical, aeronautical, and mechanical engineering during my internship. I got to see the things they had been working on and gather suggestions for my future career path. I met a mechanical engineer who works on the Mars2020 Perseverance rover operations, and despite being a mechanical engineer, their work requires a lot of programming. I would have assumed that they were a software engineer or systems engineer for their position, but this experience taught me that your major does not always dictate the type of work you do.

I now know what I want to accomplish in the future because of this fantastic experience. I want to major in mechanical engineering and minor in aerospace. I know which institutions I want to apply to, as well as the organizations where I want to intern and work at.