Columbia Falls graduate sets sights on becoming an astronaut

The sky isn’t the limit for 18-year-old Becky Griffith.

The Columbia Falls High School senior has her sights set beyond Earth’s atmosphere and is confident a degree in aerospace engineering from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona, Fla., will take her there.

Griffith’s dream of becoming an astronaut began in the fourth grade. Her parents, Leonard Griffith and Paula Dickinson, encouraged her galactic interests by giving her a telescope as a gift.

“I started to get really interested in space and it never went away,” Griffith said.

She was amazed to discover she could see the craters of the moon and rings of Saturn with the basic telescope.

“It took me by surprise to see something so far away in such detail through this little telescope,” Griffith recalled.

From 2009 to 2011 she got a sense of aerospace education as a member of the Civil Air Patrol, the civilian auxiliary of the United States Air Force, and even took several flights in a single jet engine plane.

To prepare for a major in aeronautics, Griffith took every math class and all but one science class her high school offered. She also surrounded herself with extracurricular activities that included speech and debate, cross-country, participation in the Peer Allies student mentoring program and earning membership in the National Honor Society.

What really cemented her ambition to be an aerospace engineer came during her junior year. Griffith’s application was one of 71 selected to participate in a NASA pilot program called the Women in STEM High School Aerospace Scholars program.

The program involved an online class component from March to June where students learned and completed assignments on the history of space exploration.

Based on her participation and success in the class, she was one of 40 chosen to attend a weeklong workshop at Johnson Space Center in Houston, where she participated in collaborative projects and presented them to NASA personnel.

Between academic activities, Griffith received a behind-the-scenes tour of astronaut training facilities, full-scale space shuttle models. She also sat at a computer in the Apollo-era Mission Control Center.

“This was the actual place history was made,” Griffith said.

The work was intense, but has brought her closer to her dream of landing an internship or working for NASA.

It might all eventually be “rocket science,” for this young student.

“I’m not exactly sure if I want to work in the rocketry program or get accepted into an astronaut program,” Griffith said.

She is excited at the notion of helping shape the future of space travel.

“They’re already coming up with new ways to get into space,” she said. “Engineers are envisioning what the next thing will be.”

As the next generation of space travel comes into focus, Griffith knows she wants to be there to be part of the next big thing.

Reporter Hilary Matheson may be reached at 758-4431 or by email at hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com