Palmetto High rising junior Michaela Gonzalez wants to be a pilot. She recently spent a week at Embry Riddle Aeronautical University studying air and space careers.
“We did different types of engineering,” she says. “We got to fly a Cessna 172 with a flight instructor. It was an awesome experience.”
She received a scholarship to go to the summer program. In the engineering labs, they created rockets out of balloons, string and straws.
“We threaded string through the straw which was connected to the ceiling only for the power of the balloon to go in a straight line,” she says. “Our goal was to put as many paperclips on our balloons and still have it reach the ceiling (my group won)!”
The balloons acted as boosters and when they popped the team was given another smaller one as a punishment, for it created more weight, space, and other disadvantages.
Another innovative project was creating bridges out of marshmallows and pasta.
“And we put them on an earthquake simulator,” she says.
Her bridge remained intact until the Richter Scale was dialed up to 7.2.
The students also went on a field trip to Orlando International Airport where they observed mechanics working on a 737.
“We did a lot of 3-D printing and created an airplane wing,” she says.
But the best moments came when she was up in the dual control Cessna and the flight instructor allowed her to take the controls.
“They took up two of us at one at time,” she says.
She’s more determined than ever to become a pilot.
“I want to have a career with it. My number one option is to become a commercial airline pilot,” she says.
Her grandfather was a pilot so that’s been an influence on her career choice.
At school, Gonzalez is a member of PAWS, a club that educates students about animal cruelty and animal rights.
She’s a member of the National Honor Society and the Sign Language Club. She’s taken sign language for a year and will begin her second year when school starts.
“Last year, with part of my class, we went to Bayside during Christmas time,” she says. “We did sign language to Christmas songs.”
Class member will also do sign language interpretation at school shows.
Outside of school, Gonzalez is an Ambassador for Miami Waterkeeper, an environmental group that advocates for clean, safe water to drink, fish in and swim in. She went through a year of training learning about the issues impacting Biscayne Bay and the surrounding watershed.
The students learn about civic engagement, advocacy and organizing volunteer events.
“We do a lot of beach clean-ups. It’s an awesome program,” she says. “You learn about the eco-system. And, lot about how we can help to make the waterways a better place.”
At the end of her training, she went snorkeling in Biscayne Bay.
The beach clean-ups took place at Crandon Park and Virginia Key.
Now that she’s an ambassador, she’ll do more outreach and will work to recruit friends and family, so they can help raise awareness of the water issues.
Gonzalez has earned community service hours as a counselor at St. Thomas Episcopal’s summer camp. This was her third year as a counselor.
“The last two years I’ve been assigned senior Pre-K,” she says. “The children are three and four – most four.”
She loves working with the children.
“They really are adorable,” she says.
Gonzalez is an athlete. She was a cheerleader in ninth grade and switched to playing lacrosse on the school team.
Linda Rodriguez Bernfeld
