Hey, my name is Raine Dickinson. I am a junior at North Hills Senior High School in Pittsburgh, PA and I didn’t know about Higher Orbits or the International Science School a year ago. My wonderful GATE (Gifted and Talented Education) teachers do a lot of searching for great programs for us. One of them found an event called a Countdown Breakfast at a school district near us in Mars, PA. This event featured not only PhD students from Carnegie Mellon University and their story of being the first people from a University to send a robot into space, but also featured Michelle and her journey from working at NASA to starting her own company to share science and space with the world. She told us about hosting the first Go For Launch! In my area. Instantly me and my friends decided we were going to sign up and attend that summer. Then I instantly forgot about it.
I went through the rest of the school year studying for AP tests and CHS finals. Finished out my sophomore year. I started up marching band in the summer. Then one of my friends came up to me, “Hey that space thing is coming up, you're still doing it right?” “Absolutely!!!”. So for the 3 day Go For Launch! In Mars, PA (Which is pretty funny. Space event in Mars) I would wake up early head on the 40 minute drive out and work with a former astronaut and astronaut trainer for hours, head home have about enough time to eat dinner and head straight to band till 9pm. Despite being sooo exhausted it was one of the coolest things I’ve done. I learned about the mental and physical effects of long term space travel, public speaking, and got introduced to connections and opportunities like the International Science School. It was a super fun program. Being part of it made me feel like I could actually make it in the STEM world. It made me feel like I could have an impact.
I never thought in a million years I would get selected for something like the International Science School. It’s highly selective and I didn’t feel like I would be a good enough candidate for something so cool. When the selections were coming out I was practically deathly ill with the flu. I don’t think I did anything for days except sleep and take nyquil. As anticlimactic as it is I entirely slept through the livestream. At 4 in the morning as I was coming off my fevers and I couldn't sleep, I checked my email to find “CONGRATULATIONS!” written at the top. I would have screamed my lungs out if my voice wasn’t shot. I ran into my parents room and in the pitch black told them “I GOT IN!!!”. I then proceeded to start fevering again and took more nyquil and absolutely knocked out. It took me 12 more hours to actually read the email and get the word out to my friends, and then even longer for me to not be sick so I could actually see them in person and we could scream about it together. It was an unconventional reveal, but it's genuine.
I cannot wait to meet the students from around the world and meet the scientists who will be teaching us. It will be life changing to have a chance like this. I’m so glad I applied. For everyone who thinks they won’t get into a program, job, university, or anything JUST APPLY. You might surprise yourself. Don’t tell that little kid who would dream of building, creating, and learning more that you missed out because you didn’t fill out an application. Just keep trying.
Written by Stellar Student: Raine Dickinson
