New Mexico Kids! May June 2017

Albuquerque
INVENTION DIMENSION
We give your child the skills they
need for school, for careers, for life!
Through MAKING and STEAM
activities we empower your child
to learn essential life skills.
ENRICHMENT SUMMER CAMP now enrolling
Ages 6-12 Before and after care available
Summer camp begins June 5th- register now!
3801 San Mateo Blvd. NE
www.inventiondimension.club 505.999.1962
To place your ad on this page in our next issue,
please email ad by June 14 to kids@newmexicokids.com.
Ads cost $129 plus tax.
Fun, Friends & Fitness
KARATE
4 KIDS
2808 Girard Blvd. NE
Albuquerque
Rio Grande Urgent Care
4504 4th Street NW
Albuquerque, NM 87107
505.433.4493
NMSK.org
505.872.0725
Staffed by ER trained providers!
Call to see what insurances we take.
Great Kids!
A Series about Local Kids
who are Changing the World
By KAY SNYDER
Ashley Fitzpatrick,
18, is a regular
New Mexico
teenager in many
ways. She attends
high school at
Cottonwood
Classical
Preparatory
charter school in
Albuquerque, is
involved with her
family and her
church, and has
big dreams for her
future. But
Fitzpatrick also
New Mexico teen Ashley Fitzpatrick at space camp
with her team of fellow ambassadors (left to right):
Ashley Fitzpatrick, Grace Kim, Luis Herrera, Alejandro
Reyes. Photo by Reena Rose Photography.
hopes to become an astronaut, and as she works hard to achieve her
goal, she is inspiring others along the way.
In February, Fitzpatrick completed her second trip to the Honeywell
Leadership Challenge Academy, a space camp program held at the U.S.
Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. This camp is designed to
inspire youth in STEM-related fields (science, technology, engineering
and mathematics). This year, about 320 youth from 45 countries and 27
states attended the camp. It isn’t an easy program to get in to, but
because she excelled the first time, Fitzpatrick was asked to return as a
“Honeywell Ambassador.” This position gave her the opportunity to help
some first-year attendees carry out simulated shuttle missions, make
rockets and drive mini Rovers.
Fitzpatrick enjoyed being able to guide the space camp participants. “I
have been told by a lot of them ‘Thank you so much. We looked up to
you. You made us all feel included. You were an inspiration.’ Receiving
these messages makes me feel like I did my job well, and I’m very happy
that I had the opportunity to do this,” she said.
Fitzpatrick says she developed the confidence she needed to inspire
and lead as she participated in the missions and team activities in space
camp. “I graduated the camp (the first time) with such confidence in
myself and my abilities ... and I went on to become swim team captain,
to become National Honor Society president, and to score an internship.”
That internship is at Xilinx, a software company that makes programmable
logic, where she works on semiconductors.
Fitzpatrick says she never would have been interested in STEM-related
fields without active involvement in math and science. “Experiencing
it, instead of just reading about it, is what really changed my perspective,”
she said. Fitzpatrick attributes her love for science to her eighthgrade
physics teacher, Joshua LaClair. She says LaClair made math relatable
and enjoyable. “He taught me that math is so much more fun and
so amazing when you apply it through science.”
Fitzpatrick hopes to use the leadership skills she gained through her
experiences at space camp to inspire others to reach their full potential,
especially in STEM-related fields. “One of my favorite quotes from
space camp was, ‘A great leader doesn’t make followers; they make
more leaders.’ That’s the philosophy that I want to take … I would love
to inspire kids the way that I have been by having fun with science. I
want everyone to feel like they are worthy and that they can impact
others as well.”
42 New Mexico Kids! May/June 2017