Photo: Manev Patel at Career Tech Center-West. Patel participated in an internship this summer with NASA. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
Aug 18, 2024 – DeSoto Central junior Manev Patel could have been doing a lot of things during summer vacation. But Patel, who takes automotive technology and robotics/engineering classes at Career Tech Center-West in Horn Lake in addition to coursework at DeSoto Central, this summer chose to take on an internship through the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which we all know at NASA.
Much of Patel’s internship was done online, but he did spend time this summer at the J. J. Pickle Research Campus at the University of Texas-Austin. That’s where the Center for Space Research at the Cockrell School of Engineering is located.
“We got to work alongside NASA researchers and scientists and people from aerospace companies like Axiom,” Patel said.
The internship Patel participated in is the SEES High School Summer Intern Program, with SEES standing for Stem Enhancement in Earth Science. The program is open to successful applicants who are high school sophomores or juniors with a strong interest in STEM, or Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.
After being selected, Patel had to complete online requirements before being able to attend on-site in Texas.
“We did a bunch of research and did a few Python coding lessons online,” he said.
Manev was chosen for the internship after applying back in January of this year.
“My mom and I were looking through different internships for me to apply for, and the SEES internship came to mind,” Patel said. “It was kind of a long application process. There were a few essays that I had to write and a video I had to do.”
His interest in the SEES internship came through a strong interest he has in aerospace and hopes of making it a career.
“This was a way for me to get into NASA, meet everybody there and have a chance to get a job,” Patel said. “I met astronaut Dan Tani and a few engineers from Axiom and NASA and stuff like that. I was meeting an astronaut who’s been to space and on the International Space Station.”
During his time as an astronaut, Tani joined fellow astronaut Peggy Whitson on the 100th spacewalk of the International Space Station (ISS) in November 2019. The spacewalk was done to offer maintenance to the ISS, inspect equipment, and test new tools and procedures.
Patel also met Laura Tomlin, CEO and co-founder of Space for Teachers and the Senior Outreach Coordinator at the University of Texas Center for Space Research, who Patel hopes can assist him in future internship possibilities.
Tomlin mentors students during the SEES internship as a science and STEM educator based in Salado, Texas. The co-founder of Space for Teachers also serves as a Zero-G flight mentor through the Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium Embedded Teacher Program, among several activities she is involved with.
“After the internship, they gave us a chance to send a proposal to go on a Zero-G flight, and I’m hoping to be selected to go into that,” Patel said. “I’m planning to apply for another internship too, possibly go to Cape Canaveral or something like that.”
He credited his mother, Divya Patel, with helping inspire his interest in aerospace.
“My mom introduced me to a lot of aerospace things,” Manev said. “She took me to army bases and stuff like that. She impacted me from a young age. I just always, always loved planes.”
Patel also credits his engineering instructor at Career Tech-West, Theresa Holland, as someone who helped in the internship process and has helped understand engineering in general.
“We just work on everything, like CAD computer-aided design, coding, stuff like that,” Manev said.
Career Tech Center-West principal Allyson Killough said the school is pleased Patel was able to be involved in the NASA internship.
“We’re thankful that he had this opportunity for hands-on learning to go to NASA as an intern,” Killough said. “We hope to do that with more and more of our students so that they get the opportunity. We have several automotive students that are going to paid internships at FedEx starting right now. So the more companies will allow our students in, the more they’re going to build their workforce.”
The SEES High School Summer Intern Program is funded through NASA Cooperative Agreement Notice NNH15ZDA004C and is a part of NASA’s Science Activation program.
