EvCC student lands NASA internship

Published 9:42 pm Monday, December 31, 2007

LAKE STEVENS — Rachael Humberg dreams of flying.

She sculpts animals with giant wings. She builds model airplanes. She relishes the few times she’s actually been up in the air, inside a plane.

Now the 20-year-old Everett Community College student is preparing to embark on an internship that’s all about flight.

This month, she’ll leave her Lake Stevens home for NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif. Living alone for the first time, she’ll study sonic booms and blended wing body aircraft with NASA mentors for 15 weeks.

“In school I’m learning about all the mathematical and science parts, but now I’ll really learn what it’s all about,” she said.

Though other Everett Community College students have received NASA scholarships, Humberg is probably the first to receive a NASA internship, according to physics professor Kristine Washburn.

“This is wonderful,” Washburn said. “If you go through the list of people who get these NASA scholarships, they’re mostly from really big name universities. So it’s really great to see someone local from a community college getting one of these. She’s just as smart — probably smarter — than all the other kids.”

Humberg has been fascinated with flight since she can remember. Her dad, Larry Humberg, flew helicopters for the Coast Guard and later modified old airplanes for the Boeing Co. Her grandfather tested aircraft equipment for Boeing.

“It’s in the blood,” Larry Humberg said. “It’s an opportunity that can’t be passed up at any expense.”

Humberg applied for the paid internship at Washburn’s advice but never expected to actually receive it.

Working for NASA, she said, will be a dream come true.

Reporter Kaitlin Manry: 425-339-3292 or kmanry@heraldnet.com.