MESA Students See Where Their Majors Lead During Visit to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

For Moreno Valley College students in the Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement program, a Sept. 21 visit to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena helped turn a world-renowned research facility into a potential place to build a career.

MVC MESA students joined MESA students from Riverside City College for the educational visit, where they learned about JPL's role within NASA's network of research facilities, its longstanding partnership with the California Institute of Technology and the robotic exploration, engineering and technology development taking place in Southern California.

Visits like this one are among the opportunities MESA makes possible for MVC students. For students still deciding where their education will take them, walking into a facility like JPL, seeing the work firsthand and asking questions of JPL tour guides can make careers that once seemed distant feel within reach.

During the tour, students viewed a half-scale replica of a Mars rover designed and developed at JPL and looked inside the spacecraft assembly clean room, where spacecraft are built and prepared for future missions. Along the way, they connected their own academic pathways to careers in space exploration, robotics, software development, engineering and scientific research, and saw how the skills they are building at a community college can lead to internships, transfer and research opportunities at institutions in their own region.

"I knew that NASA involved all aspects of STEM, but I didn't know just how involved my field of study was, and how locally close it is," one MESA student said. "I've become increasingly interested in applying to intern at JPL, especially now that my questions were answered when I spoke to our guides during the tour."

Learn more about the Moreno Valley College MESA program.