WHS grad Turner interns with NASA

Tue, 07/21/2009 - 4:11pm
By: Carolyn Cary

WHS grad Turner interns with NASA

Samuel Turner, 20, a Whitewater High School graduate, Class of 2007, was honored as one of two scholarship recipients of the Arctic Slope Regional Corporation Scholarship to serve an internship this summer working at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

His maternal grandmother and great-grandmother are native Eskimos, and he is attending Southern Polytechnic State University in Marietta through this special scholarship. He is majoring in mechanical engineering. ASRC chose only two students from all its scholarship students to spend the summer at NASA in Florida.

Turner spends his days working with contractors and photographing their work and taking it to NASA engineers. He has been there since May and will leave Aug. 7.

When asked for his view on watching the launch of Endeavour, he said, “Watching the Endeavour launch had to have been the highlight of my internship. After having the launch canceled five times in a row, it was great to see them finally get off the ground safely.

“At the same time, it was great to witness a shuttle launch in person because there are only eight shuttle launches left due to the shuttle program being terminated in 2010.

“There is truly nothing that can compare to the roar of 7.8 million pounds of thrust rocketing into low earth orbit.”

NASA named this center in late 1963 for the late President John F. Kennedy, who put America on the path to the moon. That event is having its 40th anniversary celebrated this month.

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Submitted by wendy mizerek h... on Thu, 07/23/2009 - 5:38pm.

Sam is working for ASRCA at Kennedy Space Center, FL. He has been a true pleasure to work with and I have received many accolades regarding his enthusiasm, hard work, work ethics, and mostly his technical aptitude. He is bright, very intelligent and continues to impress many seasoned engineers. I would be honored to have him return to KSC next year!
Wendy Mizerek-Herrburger
ASRCA Director,
Constellation Ground Systems Project

Submitted by jimburch on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 12:13pm.

Sam is a very talented young man. He comes from a good family with solid American values,hard worker,brilliant student and a bright future..

Jim Burch

Submitted by Davids mom on Wed, 07/22/2009 - 4:35pm.

Fayetteville and WHS should be extremely proud of the accomplishments of this young man. He is a credit to his family and the community.

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