Senior Maryum Irfan discovered her passion for all things space when she was just nine years old at a museum. In that museum, Irfan first learned about the Space Shuttle Columbia. The tragic disaster unfortunately took the life of Kalpana Chawla, an Indian American Astronaut and Aerospace Engineer that sparked Irfans interest in Space. The space shuttle ultimately broke down due to a few missing screws and resulted in the loss of seven crew members. It is because of this space disaster that Irfan wishes to pursue a career in safe commercial supersonic travel.
“I really, really, really want to work to protect the astronauts that go into space,” said Irfan. “I want to give humanity more steps to progress further into space.”
Irfan believes that Aerospace engineers should focus their efforts on protecting their Astronauts, and she hopes to be a part of a team working for NASA. As a South Asian Muslim, Irfan feels that there should be more diversity in the Aerospace field. She hopes to represent her country and her people by securing a job at NASA. Irfan points out how she rarely sees people who wear the hijab working in the field, and was surprised when she read a book featuring Kalpana Chawla, an astronaut.
“When I saw her name I was like wait I want to be her! She looked so much like me, we’re both south asian,” said Irfan.
Despite not having a particular interest in the field, Irfan initially attended Athens Drive for the Health Science program. Although she was in the Health Science Academy, she took many STEM courses including AP Physics and Precalculus as a junior. Prior to her junior year, Irfan never seemed to perform particularly well in these STEM classes.
“When I came in as a freshman, we were virtual and I kind of lost all motivation for school,” said Irfan.
The summer of her junior year, Irfan retook those same STEM courses at Wake Tech, and performed much better than she initially did at Athens. This was one of the first times that Irfan realized that she wanted to pursue a career in the Aerospace field, she had found the motivation necessary to push herself.
“There isn’t enough stimulation in this world to inspire me,” said Irfan.
Although inspiration is what first pushed her to discover her passion for space, Irfan finds that if she does not have that personal drive to continue to do what she likes, she will not achieve her dreams.
“I taught myself that instead of looking at others I need to look at myself and find out what my place is here on this earth,” said Irfan.
Irfan hopes to make a change in the outside world of space and help build new rockets and inventions to protect future Astronauts. She went from drawing rockets in her notebook as a kid, to getting accepted into one of the most competitive programs- Aerospace Engineering- at her dream school: North Carolina State University.
“I didn’t do well my first two years of high school, but I showed [NC State] that I persisted and worked hard,” said Irfan. “Because of that I got in.”
Irfan surrounds herself with many motivational friends and family members who push her to do better every single day. She thanks them and her Physics teacher for helping her discover her passion for Aerospace and for being by her side through her exploratory journey.
“Especially my parents, they motivated me to move forward and shine my light,” said Irfan.