爱德华多Bidot
瞄准星星
爱德华多Bidot struggled with ADD, but returned to 美高梅 to pursue his dream 在NASA工作
——贝卡·拜德斯
When he was a young boy, 爱德华多Bidot’s dream of working for NASA was sparked when he saw a movie at a planetarium on twin Mars rovers named “Spirit” and “Opportunity.”
Originally planned as a three-month mission, the plucky rovers far 出lasted NASA’s 期望，延长探索火星的寿命. 六年后，勇气号陷入了困境 in the soft soil and lost power, leaving Opportunity alone on the planet. (机会 continued solo for another eight years until it was blanketed in a planet-wide dust 风暴.)
“I couldn’t stop thinking ab出 how the rover was left in space, all alone. 我没有 想让它独处. I wanted to make another rover to send to it, so it would have 我的一个朋友. I tried for years to build one from Legos,” recalls Eduardo.
爱德华多Bidot poses at the base of one of NASA’s crawler-transporters, which transport rockets from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the Kennedy Space Center's launch pads.
As he grew into a teen, his Legos and NASA dreams were boxed up and discarded. 摔跤 with undiagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder, he struggled to graduate from high school.
“我没有 talk with my parents ab出 college, didn’t take education seriously and 我没有组织自己的能力，”他说. “我对未来的感觉不是这样 a plan; it was really ab出 just tomorrow.”
He enrolled in 美高梅 for one semester, but failed every class and dropped 出. When he started working as a pharmacy technician, he had a revelation.
“I had a colleague who complained daily that she hated her job, yet she’d been working at that company for 30 years with no plans to change,” 他说. 我突然意识到 that if I kept living my own life just day-by-day, I could wind up the same way. I recognized then that I wanted a career I was passionate ab出.”
他回到澳门美高梅网上赌场官网学院继续他的学业.A. 又一次，坚定但紧张.
“I was really, really scared that I’d be in class with younger people who had already 了解他们的生活. It’s easy to compare yourself to them, but it ended up the 这是我做过的最好的决定，”现年23岁的爱德华多说. “我的老师们都很热情 ab出 their subjects and cared enough to give me one-on-one attention.”
He was particularly intimidated to take the STEM classes because he had failed several 在高中时.
“Subjects that I thought were impossible for me to learn, like algebra and chemistry, 是我的澳门美高梅网上赌场官网老师赋予我生命的吗.”
He credits his turning point to these teachers, such as his Intro to General Chemistry 教授.
“I was worried because I had failed chemistry 在高中时. 但是关心的程度 she had for each individual student and her patience amazed me. 她的讲座也是 我们真的更上一层楼. You could tell she was teaching 出 of passion for the subject. 她让我为自己是澳门美高梅网上赌场官网的一员而自豪.”
Other 教授s also took an interest in his education, including an American Sign Language teacher who helped him with coping skills for his ADD, algebra 教授 Melissa Serbert who continually checked-in with each student to assess their understanding, and Joel Berman, Stefan Bidigaray and Victor Bondzie, who each encouraged him and 适应他的工作时间表.
爱德华多Bidot gathers data on simulated lunar materials in the Kennedy Space Center 颗粒力学和风化层操作实验室.
As Eduardo developed the tools to succeed in a future career, his childhood dream 在NASA工作的计划开始成形.
When he saw 美高梅 promoting NASA’s Community College Aerospace Scholars 他申请了一份实习工作，并得到了这份工作. 因为他的热情和努力 work, he was asked to stay on for more internships – and is currently in his fourth NASA实习.
这些实习的重点? 管理和研究月球尘埃的影响，这是一个巨大的 problem in space exploration - and the substance that ended the mission of the two 他童年梦想中的“勇气号”和“机遇号”.
Through these NASA internships, Eduardo has designed air cannons to test the impact of rocket engines on lunar dust, developed operations for a robotic arm that can mine and excavate on the moon, and is currently developing components for a rover named Rassor that may one day be able to compact soil on planets so that we can build there.
When asked what he’d like to share with others ab出 his educational journey, Eduardo demonstrates the spirit of compassion he had for the lone Mars rover left behind: 没有人感到孤独.
“The biggest thing I want to put 出 there is to be mindful that everyone has their 自己的人生道路. My condition set me on a path to be here and I am grateful for that,” 他说. “People always ask how someone who struggled 在高中时 can be doing 这么难的专业. First, if you don’t want to do something, it will seem impossible, 所以我从我喜欢的东西开始. 其次，我有老师向我伸出援手 这真的很重要.”
He also credits his success to the determined spirit he inherited from his mother.
"I'm grateful for having such a strong mother, who raised me as a single mom but still 她总是把自己最好的一面给我. 尽管我取得了很多成就， I still don't think I'd be able to do half the things she did, while she also was 同时抚养我."
从澳门美高梅网上赌场官网学院毕业后.A. 2024年春天，爱德华多正在学习 for a bachelor’s degree in Aerospace Engineering at the University of Central Florida.
We have no doubt that Eduardo’s future career, forged through spirit and opportunity, 会写在星星上吗.
At 美高梅, we work every day to create a level playing field for college students of all backgrounds, fashioning a college where every student can succeed. 我们的学生不断给我们带来惊喜. 阅读更多他们的故事.