Coming from rural Oklahoma, my ambition to be an aerospace engineer didn’t draw out many peers or mentors from my community.  Besides the academic growth that came from attending, OSSM  impacted me by helping me grow extensive peer and professional networks, which have since led to several exclusive opportunities.  Since graduating in Spring 2018, I have completed two summer internships with The Boeing Co. and written a proposal accepted by NASA.

I learned how much a teacher could push me and nurture my education at the same time.  I also found a great network of friends that could help me out no matter the problem and I’m truly grateful I got to have this experience!  

OSSM is such a special place. Being here, I’ve been able to explore the forefront of STEM which has helped me decide the direction of my future studies.

OSSM not only allowed me to mature and develop important life skills, it gave me a community of people (friends and faculty) whose influence will stick with me for the rest of my life.  Remembering all the hard physics problems, long labs and random study sessions in the mezzanine, I realize all the fun I had and I’m truly happy to be a part of something so special.

I learned that I have a passion for physics that I did not know I had.  At my home school, I would have never taken any physics class.  But, because of the exceptional physics program at OSSM, I found a major portion of what my passions are.

It’s important to remind yourself that no matter how many disappointments you face or how many times you fail, you just have to pick yourself up and keep working towards your goals.  If you do, eventually your successes will outweigh your failures and you will accomplish the goals you set for yourself.  It took me two semesters at OSSM to learn this, but I know I will never forget it.  

OSSM offers me an academic challenge I would have never gotten at my home high-school. This certainly allows me to push myself to my best potential so that in the future I will continue to have a good work ethic, as well as the ability to overcome any obstacles in my way!

OSSM changes you in a way that you don’t initially see or realize. It’s only now, looking back on where I am and where I could have been, that I can see how my time at OSSM changed my life completely. OSSM challenged me academically, physically, and psychologically, bringing me experiences and opportunities that I could never have even imagined. These experiences are priceless to me; I would not trade them for the world.

In so many ways, my experience at OSSM grew me as a person by completely breaking down and rebuilding my perception of an excellent education. Not only was I able to experience a competitive yet collaborative school culture, but I learned much more than I ever thought possible.  

OSSM is an experience that breaks me down, but builds me up. It pushed me out of my comfort zone and exposed my weaknesses. But it gave me the environment to motivate myself in any given challenge and grow stronger along with the rest of our community.