Birth Date: October 28, 1988

Hometown: Albany, California

Worksite: Boeing Satellite Development Center

Career Interest: Engineering/Finance/Science

Wow. NASA SHARP was fabulous. It is huge shame that NASA is discontinuing it. I learned so much and had so much fun. I learned about people, life, satellites, the world, and a little bit of everything. Every weekend would be a blast no matter what we did because we would be together and we made everything better. Some weekends were super extra blasts because there were so many amazing things that we did like visiting NASA sites (Dryden, JPL), Magic Mountain, Disneyland, San Diego, hiking, several different lectures, grocery runs, Wild Rivers, baseball games, beach trips, and so many more that it’s hard to remember.
Although the car rides may have been sometimes long, they were either filled with sleep or many interesting and fun conversations. Another amazing thing were our BSS lunches. During lunch, all 6 of the NASA SHARP interns who worked at Boeing S.S. would meet at “our” benches outside and enjoy our lunch together. We really had fun and bonded at lunch with each other with lunchtime “discussions” about different topics, but whatever topic it was, we had fun. We especially had fun . Also at Boeing about one topic, but that stays with Boeing people some harmless “pranks” (i.e. fake mentor note about professionalism and game playing) were pulled that really brought us together as a group of co-workers. I enjoyed those lunches along because that was when we had time to interact and be with each other. NASA SHARP was one of the most amazing and extraordinary parts of my life and I sincerely hope to never forget about it. Yes, good timeeees, gooooood tiiiiiimeees! Amazing memories…

Apartment #: 2204

Roommate: David John Gagne II

What did you think about your apartment?

I really enjoyed our apartment. Even though all the other ones were all cool, ours was really cool. We had a great mix of people who were all really good friends and got along great. (“Your mom …”, hahaha) We all cooked, cleaned, hung out, and worked together. Of course, being in an apartment with all guys, not all of us could cook well. However, those who could did a great job of working really hard on meals even though other people didn’t have to try as hard. They didn’t pout or whine, but willingly contributed a great meal to the apartment. Also, I thought Tyler was a really, really cool RA. He brought many of his own kitchen utensils and brought his workout plan for all of us to enjoy. He was great at keeping us informed and organizing our cooking/cleaning schedules. Tyler was really fun and hung out with us sometimes by watching movies, playing games, cooking, and eating. I won’t forget that one night at 2 in the morning when Tyler told us some super freaky, true scary stories. I just want to take this opportunity to thank Tyler and all the other RA’s as well for the great job they did in guiding, organizing, dealing with, and overall just being there for us. I really enjoyed our apartment and will always remember some of those jokes and fun times.

What did you learn from living in an apartment with other people?

One huge, great part of NASA SHARP is being able to live in dorms/apartments with other people and other ways of life. This experience really teaches and is a great set-up for college and future life. In our apartment, we were pretty diversified in all ways. Some liked only some types of food (chicken, non-spicy), some liked to clean, and some liked to cook. Some people enjoyed cleaning the counter, while some liked washing dishes. Also, we all had many different interests in TV. I would want to watch sports 24/7, while others wanted to watch movies, comedy, reality TV, news, etc. From all of these differences, one has to learn to adjust, adapt, compromise. Also, we all have to be there for each other. If one person oversleeps, can’t do the dishes or cook for some reason, needs to do their laundry, visit the computer lab, or etc. the other people need to help them out. One important lesson I learned is that we need to work together, compromise, and help each other out.

Describe what you did and learned at your summer work site.

This summer at NASA SHARP – Cal State LA was a very insightful and amazing time. In addition to the boatloads of wonderful and interesting experiences I’ve enjoyed outside of the worksite, there have been many great times at the workplace as well. This summer I worked at Boeing Satellite Systems under Scott Bomwell, who was a great help. I’d really like to give thanks to him for being so great as to volunteer to mentor, which is a great act. He was very helpful in introducing me to co-workers and teaching me the work environment. We worked inside the Wire Harness department, which is in charge of developing and designing all the wires that connect, control, and run the satellite. During these fabulous 8-weeks, I learned a lot about the different kinds of engineering and the way a company works. Of course I learned about my topic and about my mentor’s work. My project involved the thermal stress on wires caused by excess current and the technology involved in a wire harness. I had to find out how surrounding wires were affected and how much damage can be done depending on the amount of current. I even was able to go hands-on by building my own 12 feet wire bundle with Y-splices, contact crimping, connectors, insulation stripping, and spot ties. Then I fried that wire bundle with a lot of excessive current as an experiment to test the collateral damage. However, I learned and did so much more as well. Just working in the Boeing environment and with Scott taught me about meetings, co-worker interaction, scheduling, organization, multiple project management, etc. Working at Boeing will be something great that I’ll never forget.

What was your favorite experience at NASA SHARP?

My favorite experience during this program can’t be just one day, one event, or one aspect. Getting the chance to work at Boeing, chilling every night, the people, the wonderful RA’s, living at the CSULA dorms on campus, and just overall hanging out and having fun. Some of my favorite times during the NASA SHARP program were when people came together, especially during the nights and weekends. I really enjoyed the people and being able to bond and connect with all the people. There would be movies, card and board games, video games, different sports, pool, TV, and especially just plain talking and hanging out. I think one of the most enjoyable parts of this program was being able to meet and closely bond with these 25 amazing people, including RA’s who were just as cool. I loved just being able to really connect with other people at night and during activities. All the other people made everything 100 times better. I loved when we could just hang out and chill with each other. I’ve gotten some really good friends in these 8-weeks. I will really miss my fellow “SHARPIES” and will really try hard to keep in touch and reconnect in a couple years.

Words to live by:

"Always have fun and stay happy." – G. Zhe Zhang

"Always remember and never forget." – G. Zhe Zhang

"The sum of the parts is greater than the parts by themselves." – Unknown / G. Zhe Zhang

"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." - Dale Carnegie

"I still find each day too short for all the thoughts I want to think, all the walks I want to take, all the books I want to read, and all the friends I want to see." - John Burroughs

"If you're trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I've had them; everybody has had them. But obstacles don't have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don't turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it." - Michael Jordan
 

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