On April 08, the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering International Engineering Ambassadors (IEA) organized a trip for 18 international students to Kennedy Space Center (KSC). Clara Summerford, a 3rd-year mechanical engineering student, spearheaded the efforts and arrangement for the visit based on her fond childhood memories of space.
“Visiting the Kennedy Space Center years ago with my family was such an incredible and surreal experience that I knew would have a tremendous impact on international engineering students,” she explains.
Upon arrival, UF students had the opportunity to visit the Rocket Garden and Moon Tree Garden, where they can witness models of rockets and trees taken to space. On their way around the Space Center, students not only encounter the Saturn V Rocket and Space Shuttle Atlantis, but also experience what it is like in space as an astronaut through the training simulators and the Shuttle Launch Experience.
For Gators, it was a small trip of a lifetime. For IEA, it was a large step to bring awareness to Florida’s global aeronautical impact.
Summerford agrees, “It was extremely rewarding to bring this idea to life and share this bit of not only American history, but international engineering history with my fellow engineers.”