Children are led to believe that anything is possible; that possibility is dictated only by the extent of one’s determination and hard work. It is fitting then, that children aspire to pursue careers requiring years of discipline, with most wanting to become doctors, firefighters, or astronauts. Unfortunately, many of these dreams never come to fruition as the work required to achieve them proves to be an insurmountable obstacle. For sixteen-year-old Alina Ashraf, however, the possibility of becoming an astronaut doctor is not completely off the table.

At face value, one might assume Alina Ashraf to be like any other hard-working Junior at Bayside High School: A rigorous schedule filled with AP coursework paired with an extensive list of extracurricular activities defines her daily routine. Alina, however, is not like her fellow peers; she has done something that no other Bayside High School student has accomplished. Thanks to her participation in a city-wide space prize contest, Alina has experienced weightlessness.

Alina was a Freshman at Bayside High School when she was first introduced to the Space Prize NYC Contest, a contest promoting women's integration into STEM-based research fields, specifically aerospace engineering. At the time, Alina admits, the contest had piqued her interest because she had never previously been afforded the opportunity to explore her options in STEM. The contest was split into two parts. The first part was an essay highlighting the Overview Effect; it asked Alina to write about a time in her life when her perspective had been changed meaningfully. The second part, a video entry, asked her to describe what exploration meant and to expound on a personal discovery. When the contest results came back in April of 2022, Alina was ecstatic to find that she had been selected to represent Bayside High School and the borough of Queens in Space Prize’s 2022 ZERO-G flight. Not only was she promised the experience of weightlessness 30,000 feet above the ground, but she was also offered a mentorship with an influential woman working in the aerospace industry.

Alina remembers her experience vividly. The pilot, she explains, flew her and the other contestant winners 30,000 feet into the air in an airplane. Flying in a parabolic pattern, the girls experienced weightlessness in thirty-second intervals as the plane descended, suspending them in a state of free fall. The simulation was about as close as one could get to zero gravity without leaving the planet. Alina recalls, “It honestly felt like I was in outer space, and it was really cool to experience what astronauts normally experience."

In addition to her background in aerospace, Alina has more recently participated in NASA’s Summer GeneLab Internship, wherein she sharpened her research skills by analyzing the data sets of one particular gene and its association with cancer progression. Alina’s involvement in the aerospace and medical scene have significantly opened up her career options. Alina aims to preserve her multidisciplinary skillset by potentially combining her two interests into one niche professional field: space medicine. By pursuing her aptitude for chemistry and medicine, Alina hopes one day to work at NASA, providing healthcare to its astronauts.

Alina’s impressive resume, however, has not come without its challenges. At one point, Alina’s fear of failure and rejection clouded her judgment and made her miss out on valuable opportunities. Rejecting this mindset, Alina now accepts the fact that everything happens for a reason, stating, “It is always better to try… even if you are doubtful because what is worse than trying and not getting accepted is not trying at all." Balancing her very involved extracurricular activities with her academic responsibilities has also proven difficult. Time management, Alina says, has been particularly hard to maintain, but taking the initiative to create and follow a schedule has made all the difference.

Today, Alina continues to raise the bar for her peers. While she hasn’t made any more ventures in zero gravity, she is heavily involved in the Bayside High School community. As President of the Bridge to Medicine Club, Alina continues to display her love for science, while she works with her fellow board members to create informative presentations and activities for her classmates who share her passion for medicine. For those inspired by her powerful story, Alina leaves behind one simple piece of advice: Try; if you do not, you will never know what you are missing out on.