Who are you?

My name is Marisela Szto and I am a Summer High School Apprenticeship Research Program (SHARP) student at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif. I am 17 years old and attend Hillsdale High School in San Mateo, where I will be a senior when I return to school in the fall.

What do you do at Ames Research Center?

I work with Teri Schnepp who is my mentor for the SHARP program, and is a payload scientist for the Shuttle-Mir mission. So far, I've been doing a lot of computer work. I've been reading a lot of documents to catch up on what the projects are. The other day I sifted turface, which is like cat litter, and my mentor took it with her to Russia. The Russians are going to grow plants in it.

I'm looking forward to doing more work in the laboratory. I like doing hands-on things, like working in the laboratory, rather than just sitting around. So far, I've only sifted turface in the lab, but I think I will start working in the laboratory more. I've been to a bunch of meetings, but I don't understand all of the terms that are used. So, sometimes it can get a little boring.

Once a week, I take Russian lessons with the other people on the science team. Later, I will start on other activities, such as cleaning up the laboratory area, preparing chemicals for the quail eggs that will be coming back from space, and I think I will be growing a bunch of plants, too.

Every Friday we have activities in the SHARP program. We talk about what we are doing with our mentors, listen to speakers about college, and take tours of places like Ames Research Center, Stanford University and San Jose State University. I'm hoping that these activities will help me prepare for college because I have to start working on my college applications soon and I don't have any idea about how to fill them out and when they are due. I'd like to go to U.C. Berkeley because it's close to home.

How did you get involved with the SHARP program at NASA Ames?

An announcement was made at my school explaining that anyone who was interested in the program should apply. I filled out the application by myself, sent it in and was accepted! The program only accepts a certain number of students. This year there are about 31 students.

The application asked what my interests are and I put biology. The mentors here at Ames choose who they would like to work with them from the applications submitted.

How did you get interested in biology?

Last year I had a really fun teacher. He made the course really interesting by doing things like making up songs for the class. I was never really interested in science, but then he got me interested. Before I had my high school biology class I don't think I knew what I wanted to go into. Now I want to go into biology.

What is working at Ames Research Center like?

Working at NASA shows you what the scientists do. I want to go into biology, but I have no idea of what specific area. I think working here gives you a taste of what you can do. So far I like it, so I hope I can do something like this.

What is learning Russian like?

Learning Russian is difficult for me. A lot of the science researchers have already been to Russia a couple of times so they know the basics. I started classes late. I'm trying to learn and it's fun.

The teacher is Russian and he's a really funny man. He speaks mostly Russian and he has a heavy accent when he speaks English. But I like him because he likes involvement from everyone. Although I only know about two words, he still talks to me.

What are your plans and goals for the future?

I hope to be able to focus on a career goal after working at NASA-Ames and decide what I want to go into. I think I will also gain some experience.

Being in school most of the time, it's interesting to see what other people do in the real world and the troubles that they go through. So hopefully the experience will better prepare me for the future.

When I'm older, I hope to be out of college, working in a steady job and perhaps married. But I'm not sure yet. In my job I think I'd like to do experiments as a scientist in research. That would be the most important thing.

Personal Stuff

I like to go out with my friends, eat and shop. I have a rabbit and two younger sisters.

I live in a pretty good neighborhood. We have students at our school who are from other cities. Some students who live in a city close to us do not have a high school so they go to our high school. Most of the kids who have school spirit are involved in school clubs. I like my school because it has people of different backgrounds and everyone gets along with each other.

Recently, I've been playing tennis, although I'm not that good. I've been on the track and cross-country teams. At school I'm involved in Service Commissions, which help other people in the community. I'm also in the Asian Club, the California Scholarship Federation, a political debate club called JSA, and an interdistrict club called Interact. I also worked as a cashier at the Nature Company, and with my father, who is an architect, which wasn't too bad.

What I really like to do is travel. During the summer last year I went to Europe for 10 days with about 10 of my classmates and our biology teacher. That was an experience. I was able to experience different cultures and it was pretty fun. We went to England, France, Switzerland and Germany and got lost a lot. My favorite place was Switzerland. I only took Spanish in high school, so it was kind of hard to communicate with some of the people, but it was fun.