From the time students start elementary school, many are already thinking about what they want to be when they grow up.

While some students wanted to be teachers, doctors or professional athletes, sophomore Isabel Haake had bigger aspirations for her future.

From the time she was little, Haake wanted to be an astronaut. She enjoys learning about outer space and even attended a NASA summer space camp to fuel her future dreams.

Haake attended the NASA camp in Huntsville, Alabama, during the summer of 2018.

“I learned all sorts of things about space travel and what it is like to be in space. We did a lot of little ‘missions’ and team building stuff,” she said.

These activities helped her learn more about potential careers in space travel, as well as how to cooperate with her peers.

Haake enjoyed the camp experience, but her outlook and plans for her future career have definitely changed.

“I used to want to be an astronaut, but now I want to be in mission control,” Haake said.

Mission control is the center of space travel that communicates with missions while they are in space. Haake would like to participate in this crucial role while remaining on the ground, rather than actually going into space.

Haake participates in many other science-related activities at De Soto High School, including Environmental Council and Science Olympiad. She also participates in band and forensics to showcase her creative side.

Haake thinks it is important to know what exists beyond the earth, being one of the main reasons she is interested in this field. She thinks it is important for humanity to be more aware of their place in the universe in this way.

She is also inspired due to the nature of competition seeing as NASA and Elon Musk’s space exploration company SpaceX are working to send a human to Mars.

“Space exploration is becoming a much more interesting thing, especially regarding the potential missions to Mars,” Haake said.