Photo: Manev Patel at the Career Tech Center-West. Patel interned at NASA this summer. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
August 18, 2024 – DeSoto Central junior Manev Patel could have done a lot of things over summer break. But Patel, who, in addition to classes at DeSoto Central, is taking classes in automotive technology and robotics/engineering at Career Tech Center-West in Horn Lake, decided to intern this summer with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which we all know from NASA.
Patel’s internship was mostly online, but this summer he also spent time at the University of Texas-Austin’s JJ Pickle Research Campus, home to the Cockrell School of Engineering’s Center for Space Research.
“We were able to work with researchers and scientists from NASA and people from aerospace companies like Axiom,” Patel said.
The internship Patel participated in is the SEES High School Summer Intern Program, where SEES stands for Stem Enhancement in Earth Science. The program is open to successful applicants who are high school students in grades 10 or 11 and have a strong interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math).
After Patel was selected, he had to complete online requirements before he could compete on-site in Texas.
“We did a lot of research and took some Python programming lessons online,” he said.
Manev was selected for the internship after applying in January this year.
“My mom and I looked at different internships I could apply for and the SEES internship came to mind,” Patel said. “The application process was quite long. I had to write a few essays and make a video.”
His interest in the SEES internship stems from his strong interest in aerospace and his hopes of pursuing a career in it.
“That was a way for me to get to NASA, meet everyone there and get a chance at a job,” Patel said. “I met astronaut Dan Tani and a couple of engineers from Axiom and NASA and stuff. I met an astronaut who had been in space and on the International Space Station.”
During his time as an astronaut, Tani participated in the 100th spacewalk of the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2019, together with fellow astronaut Peggy Whitson. The spacewalk was used to perform maintenance on the ISS, check equipment, and test new tools and procedures.
Patel also met with Laura Tomlin, CEO and co-founder of Space for Teachers and senior outreach coordinator at the University of Texas Center for Space Research, who Patel hopes can help him find future internship opportunities.
Tomlin mentors students during the SEES internship as a science and STEM teacher based in Salado, Texas. The co-founder of Space for Teachers also serves as a mentor for zero-G flights as part of the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium’s Embedded Teacher Program, among numerous other activities.
“After the internship, they gave us the opportunity to submit a proposal for a zero-gravity flight, and I hope to be selected for that,” Patel said. “I plan to apply for another internship as well, possibly to Cape Canaveral or something like that.”
He credited his mother, Divya Patel, with sparking his interest in aerospace.
“My mother introduced me to a lot of things in the aerospace industry,” Manev said. “She took me to military bases and things like that. She influenced me from a young age. I’ve just always loved airplanes.”
Patel also thanks his engineering instructor at Career Tech-West, Theresa Holland, for assisting him with the internship process and helping him understand engineering in general.
“We just work on everything, like CAD (computer-aided design), coding and things like that,” Manev said.
Allyson Killough, principal of Career Tech Center-West, said the school was pleased that Patel was able to participate in the NASA internship.
“We are grateful that he had the opportunity to gain hands-on experience as an intern at NASA,” Killough said. “We hope to do this with more and more of our students so they have the opportunity to do this. Several automotive students are starting paid internships at FedEx right now. The more companies our students accept, the more they will build their workforce.”
The SEES High School Summer Intern Program is funded by NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice NNH15ZDA004C and is part of NASA’s Science Activation program.
For more information, visit: https://science.nasa.gov/learners.
