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Taking flight toward the future

Marietta teen aspires to land a career in air/spacecraft design

This photo was taken from the atmospheric payload weather balloon Loughry sent 110 thousand feet into the air using a fish eye lens.

When children are little they often dream they can touch the sky. When asked what they want to be, they reply with jobs such as an astronaut, race car driver or other fantastic ideas.

However, many stop chasing those dreams before they even enter the workforce.

This was not the case though for 16-year-old Elizabeth Loughry.

Loughry, who is a sophomore at Marietta High School, has continued to chase those dreams.

Loughry wants to be an aeronautical engineer for NASA.

This isn’t just a far fetched dream though; Loughry is working hard to get ahead and make this her future.

“While my dream would be to design spacecrafts, I am also interested in designing aircrafts,” she said.

Loughry already has her student pilots license, is working on securing a private pilots license before graduating, participates in multiple clubs, is taking college credit courses, is enrolled in an engineering program and participates in The Rice University Aerospace and Aviation Academy.

“I have always loved outer-space, in fact I remember my first telescope I ever had,” she said. “But attending the Rice University for Aerospace and Aviation was when I knew for sure that this was what I wanted to pursue.”

The academy is offers students the opportunity to spend 12 days in one of the epicenters of aerospace and aviation.

During the program, they “gain invaluable hands-on career experience and exposure while learning from and engaging with leading minds in the space industry, gaining unique access to industry facilities, and hearing directly from a NASA representative on 21st century space innovations”, according to the academy website.

Loughry shared a story about her past experience with the academy, where she and a group of people built an atmospheric payload weather balloon (a type of high altitude balloon specifically used for transporting scientific payloads into the upper atmosphere).

Her group’s balloon broke the program record for ascension height, reaching over 110 thousand feet in the air (about 20 miles), reaching the stratosphere.

To put this into perspective, commercial aircrafts typically fly between 31,000 and 38,000 feet.

They sent different experiments up to see what would happen to them as they traveled into the atmosphere.

“Through past visits to the academy, I have made friends in other states who share the same interests as myself,” she said.

Loughry said that although many STEM careers are in male dominate fields, she has had many opportunities to meet and be inspired by some “powerful women”.

“I hope one day to be one of those powerful women that others can look up to, someone who came from a smaller town, but still made an impact on our world,” she said.

Loughry said for college she is looking into universities such as Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida.

ERAU is rated as the top school, ahead of the United States Air Force Academy, as the best aerospace school, and to help give herself a better chance at being accepted, Loughry is already taking engineering classes through the high school and college classes.

“I am focusing on my general education courses only, because I hope to take all honors classes for anything specifically tied to my major,” she said. “I am glad that I have a high school that offers courses in engineering as well though, to help students continue to get ahead while working toward their futures,” she said.

Loughry said that the classes, which are taught by Steve Foutty, are the reason she gets up in the mornings.

“I am honored to have had the opportunity to learn how to use top of the industry programs and work toward earning a STEM diploma before college,” she said.

While challenging her mind and exploring the aeronautical field is among Loughry’s favorite hobbies, they are not her only ones.

She also runs track, cross country, plays volleyball, is a member of 4-H, participates in math club, is a member of The Ninety-Nines (a women’s pilot organization) and is a member of student council.

“I have been in track since seventh grade (since that was the first year it was offered) and this is my first year running cross country,” she said.

Loughry explained that she used to be a member of the river city kids racers.

“I blindly jumped into running cross country, and I am so glad I did,” she said.

Loughry said it was one of the best decisions she could have made.

“It is so worth it to take those risks, even if you are worried you won’t be any good at it,” she said. “Sometimes they lead to some pretty amazing experiences.”

Loughry said that she adores her coaches, has made many friends along the way and has received so much support from everyone.

“It has been great for me both mentally and physically,” she said.

Unlike in the track/cross country setting where she has one team to work with and build on each others strengths, her time in club volleyball has been about quickly adjusting to new teammates.

“I have played for eight years and have made friends from all over the area,” she said. “It has been a great way to make friends, work on switching up teammates and adjusting or figuring out how to play together.”

In 4-H, Loughry has gotten to learn more about leadership, than just being a team player. She has held multiple different titles, such as treasurer and secretary.

“I love 4-H so much, it has done so much for me,” she said.

When people think 4-H they often think about animals and farm life, but that is not the case for Loughry.

“I started in third grade and have participated in activities such as creating projects, cooking, sewing, photography and knot making.”

She also serves on their student advisory board and gets to help plan things such as the annual fair.

“I have been selected to represent the county in the Washington D.C. citizenship focus camp,” she said.

Citizenship Washington Focus (CWF) is National 4-H Council’s premier leadership and civic engagement experience for high school students.

They will get to hear from inspiring speakers, see monuments and speak with lawmakers, but the main goal is to create a plan to carry upon returning home, to make a difference in the community.

“I got to go when I was younger to the leadership Washington focus,” she said.

In order to be selected, Loughry had to apply and do interviews with organization volunteers.

Madeline Scarborough can be reached at

mscarborough@newsandsentinel.com

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