You can never be too young to become an engineer.
This is what 22-year-old Tiera Guinn has proven, who is now employed as a Rocket Structural Design and Analysis Engineer for the Space Launch System that Boeing is building for NASA. The project she is working on is set to become one of the biggest most powerful rocket in history designed to send people to Mars. Her job is to design and analyze parts of the humongous rocket.
It has long been the dream of Tiera to become an aerospace engineer. Now, it has come true.
During her childhood, she and her mom would go to the supermarket where they could test Tiera’s computational skills.
“When [my mom and I] would go to the grocery store, she would get me to clip coupons [and] put it in my coupon organizer,” Tiera tells WBRC News.
“By the time we got to the register, I’d have to calculate the exact total, including tax. And I did that since I was six years old.”
But the dream to become an engineer didn’t dawn upon Tiera until she saw a plane.
““One day I saw a plane fly by and I just had this realization, ‘huh, I can design planes. I’m going to be an aerospace engineer,”’ she shares.
Tiera prepared for her engineering journey by meticulously choosing the middle school classes that will propel her to her dream. For this, she had to commute an hour to go the high school she selected.
Needless to say, the sacrifices were all worth it.
The NASA engineer is yet to graduate from her degree in aeronautics and astronautics at MIT. She will finish her studies with a 5.0 GPA.
For girls who want to follow her footsteps, she has this to say, “You have to look forward to your dream and you can’t let anybody get in the way of it.
“No matter how tough it may be, no matter how many tears you might cry, you have to keep pushing. And you have to understand that nothing comes easy. Keeping your eyes on the prize, you can succeed,” Tiera advises.
