Khalil S.

Background

About Khalil S.

As a young child, I developed a deep love for space. Growing up I witnessed significant strife between my parents, whom were separated, and soon learned to appreciate viewing the stars as an escape from my reality. I realized at an early age that I ultimately wanted to become an astronaut, as I always imagined what other worlds looked like and what we might find out there. As I got older my passion for space never faded; however, I unfortunately attended a high school that did not present many options to develop my knowledge of robotics, coding, or general engineering principles. The lack of opportunities at my high school paved the way for me to explore external options, and ultimately led to my participating in a design-build program with Lockheed Martin tailored to high school students. I eventually got accepted into four of my top five choices for universities with top-ranked space exploration and engineering programs, and decided to attend Auburn University. For the past four years I have devoted my time to working with a non-profit agency dedicated to at-risk youth. It is my hope that in working with this population I can encourage them to make better life choices and avoid ending up as a statistic. I also transferred to Arizona State University, another top-ranked university, and successfully completed my degree program – where I made the Dean’s List.