Personally speaking, I was afforded a perspective that otherwise could not have been achieved while living in the United States: to live the life as a foreign minority for two years. I vividly remember imagining what it would be like before leaving. I figured I would be subject to constant starring and that a perpetual state of anxiety would be experienced on my part. While the former ultimately held true, I was certainly wrong about the social anxiety aspect. It was the opposite, really. Never had I felt more welcomed in an unfamiliar setting in my entire life. All it took was a bit of cross-cultural understanding. That all started with learning the basics of the local language, Sesotho. It reached new heights by learning how to dance like the Basotho. From there- the rest is history.<\/p>\n Being back stateside has allowed me to apply this learned perception of others, just in reverse. A good example came about at one of St. Mary of Vernon Church\u2019s annual Fish Fry events during Lent. Just as I was sitting down with my family to eat, I noticed a group of 3 young men walk in. There was no mistaking it on my part; they looked exactly like folks I called friends and neighbors for the previous 2 years. I approached them and said hello. Not surprisingly, they told me they were from South Africa- having only recently arrived in the USA to attend a local Seminary school. Through a program that supports young Catholics in developing nations, they were sponsored to become ordained. Afterwards they will return to their respective villages. Naturally, when I spoke some Sesotho to them they were floored and I could see their eyes light up. It was very interesting bonding experience. I even had the chance to play soccer with one of the guys, Sebelo, before he had to return to his duties.<\/p>\n An Out-Of-This-World Opportunity <\/strong><\/p>\n After a couple months of job searching, I landed a worthy gig at a medium-sized company called Uline<\/a>. There I was doing IT technician work at one of their branch offices. Almost immediately after starting employment, I received an electronic communication from the Peace Corps\u2019 careers office. In this letter was an invitation to apply for an opportunity to shadow a government official at NASA for a day.\u00a0 I had received emails of this nature in the past, but it was usually for White House fellows or other government agencies which didn’t particularly pique my interest. I would later find out that this was NASA\u2019s first time participating in the job shadow program. Little did I know my brief but passionate application letter would have far-reaching career implications.<\/p>\n After a couple weeks went by, I received another email on November 9th<\/sup> indicating that I had been selected to participate in the job shadow. This news was received with much elation. The excitement increased ten-fold as more details came about regarding the activities and who it was I\u2019d be shadowing. It was revealed that the gentleman\u2019s name was Dennis Vander Tuig<\/a>, the current Chief Information Officer (CIO) of NASA\u2019s Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Without hesitation, I began a Google-quest to find out more about this NASA sponsor. I found a directory of with the names of every volunteer that had served in the Peace Crops from 1961-2011. His name came up on that list and stated his time in PC was spent in Micronesia from 1974-1976.<\/p>\n At this point I could hardly contain my anticipation. Lists of my interests, held since I was a kid, ran through my head. I could not wait to have an opportunity to discuss things like NASA, space technology, Peace Corps, and civil service with a high ranking NASA representative. Then an email from Dennis himself came in, indicating that he is reserving 2 days for the job shadow instead of one. He stated he did this since I\u2019d be flying in from Chicago, we might as well make it 2 days. Now, for me, even 10 minutes would have made it worthwhile, but to learn that it would be a solid 16 hours within a NASA campus was absolutely exhilarating. The given dates for the shadow were December 8th<\/sup> and 9th<\/sup>, 2015.<\/p>\n I immediately booked my flights and hotel reservation while drawing a large red circle around the dates on my calendar. In the interim, I was in contact with a friendly HR specialist who sent me the agenda. Items included were: a senior staff meeting with the chiefs of each directorate, a meeting with Chief Technology Officer Keith Keller, and a meeting & demonstration with Dr. Phil Webster, who is Chief of the Computational & Information Sciences & Technology.<\/p>\n After flying in the day prior, on the morning of December 8th<\/sup> I took an Uber from the hotel to the space center\u2019s front gate. The HR specialist was waiting for me and after we went through security, I was escorted to Dennis\u2019 office in Building 8. I would later come to learn that Building 8 is where all the directorate chiefs work (15 in total). After a friendly meet and greet, we didn\u2019t waste any time diving right into the tour. Dennis took me upstairs to the Management Conference Center on the 3rd<\/sup> floor. I brought a small notebook to take notes for the duration of the shadow. I wanted to remember every single detail! Upon walking in, I was amazed at the beautiful galaxy, earth, and star photos that lined the walls. Directors sat at the round-table for this monthly meeting which allows each office of operations to give a progress report. It was glorious; they began with a briefing on the latest ISS resupply mission and how it was a resounding success. Then the meeting took a more cautious overtone as security was discussed in light of the recent terrorist incident in San Bernardino, California. Perhaps the most interesting meeting minute came halfway through, as they discussed plans for an upcoming mission to Saturn\u2019s moon, Enceladus. The Cassini Probe<\/a> first observed water vapor being ejected from geysers on the surface last decade. There was an impassioned plea to NASA\u2019s HQ directors to allow GSFC to be granted this project.<\/p>\n The rest of the day was spent at various meetings with topics that included IT Staff updates, Center Leadership Management, and a HQ CIO Staff meeting which included each center\u2019s CIO in a teleconference. Whenever there was time in between meetings, Dennis would show me various parts of the space center and explain the historical or current significance that they represent. He is very knowledgeable in this realm which made the shadowing experience that much better.<\/p>\n The second day began with a meeting with the chief of GSFC\u2019s Computation and Information Science office, Dr. Phil Webster<\/a>. He overseas operation of the NASA Center for Climate Simulation<\/a> which houses a massive supercomputer- the largest dedicated to this purpose.\u00a0 It boasts an integrated set of supercomputing, visualization, and data interaction technologies that enhance NASA\u2019s capabilities in weather and climate prediction research. I was given a demonstration of these featured on the \u201chyperwall<\/a>\u201d. Dr. Webster was quick to point out that the simulations being shown were referred to as \u201cvisualizations\u201d and not \u201canimations\u201d. This is because animation implies there may have been some artistic interpretation of the data, when in reality the simulations being shown were using real data from 14 Earth-observing satellites in conjunction with weather stations and data from all around the world.<\/p>\n After a brief lunch, Dennis took me over to Building 29 \u2013 in my opinion the most fascinating of all buildings on campus. Despite the lackluster name, Building 29 houses the world\u2019s largest \u201cclean room\u201d. A clean room is an environment free from dust and other contaminants, used chiefly for the integration of electronic components. It is here that the $8.9 billion and long awaited next generation successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is being built: the James Webb Space Telescope<\/a> (JWST). The JWST project was started back in 1996 and I had been keeping up with the progress over the years. This telescope will provide our deepest look into the visible Universe; up until the point of the first star and galaxy formation some 400,000 years after the Big Bang. Attached to Building 29 is Building 7, which houses many other important instruments such as thermal vacuum chambers and space environment simulators. It was a spectacular behind-the-scenes look into the incredible amount of science and engineering that goes into our space program. Have a look at some of the pictures:<\/p>\n – – http:\/\/imgur.com\/a\/SydfU<\/a><\/p>\n NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Visit – December 7th & 8th, 2015<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/traviswohlrab.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/02\/st-mary-of-vernon.jpg\")
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