Internships at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum are providing an almost-out-of-this-world learning opportunity for two George Mason University students. The experience also could help them land dream careers.
Suzy Hewitt and Roxana Kazemi are leading hands-on, innovative learning sessions on outer space, primarily at the museum’s Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Northern Virginia on the weekends. They also may take the opportunity to work at the National Air and Space Museum’s Washington, D.C., location during the week.
The sophomores are working at least 15 hours a month as “explainers,” talking to visitors about subjects including forces of flight and humans in orbit. “We hope to inspire lifelong learners by connecting them to iconic artifacts and stories about the science and technology that make innovation possible,” says Kazemi of Vienna, Va. “There’s even the chance to teach people how to land a space shuttle or show them how a space shuttle toilet works.”
Kazemi, who is majoring in government and international politics, says she holds a deep appreciation for government institutions like the Smithsonian. “They make access to education, particularly science education, available and attainable for people of all socioeconomic backgrounds.”
Hewitt, an astronomy major, finds space has unlimited reach. “As someone who has always been interested in science, it’s amazing to see other people excited and interested in something that is so important in the scientific community,” says the Warrenton, Va., native. “The study of space doesn’t just affect the scientists or one country; it’s a global interest able to be shared by people of all backgrounds.”
Both students are in Mason’s Honors College, and they will co-host their own radio show called “Dictation” this school year on the campus radio station WGMU in the Division of University Life‘s Student Media.
“The internships at the Smithsonian are an example of the kind of learning experiences available to Mason students in the Washington, D.C., area,” says Honors College dean Zofia Burr. “We hope that this kind of opportunity will be part of every Mason student’s experience.”
Hewitt aims to earn a PhD in astronomy, then to get to know the unknown. “I plan on working for a program called SETI, the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence, in the hopes of finding and researching intelligent life somewhere else in our universe.”
Kazemi hopes to become a television news anchor, reporting on international affairs. Might that include a live shot from space? Anything is possible, says Kazemi, as she refers to a quote from Oscar Wilde: “To define is to limit.”