Ocoee Elementary student wins space camp scholarship

OCOEE — After she submitted two essays, a mission patch, a science experiment and three letters of recommendation, Ocoee Elementary fifth-grader Sarah Hoffer, 10, received a full scholarship to Aviation Challenge, a summer space camp in Hunstville, Alabama.

At that six-day camp, Sarah will learn about aeronautics, propulsion, aviation history, flight fundamentals and leadership in real-world applications of math, science and technology.

Sarah is most excited about hands-on, active training, she said.

“I’m probably excited about the training, the obstacle courses, because I think that will play to my strengths,” she said. “I like probably the ones that have to do with speed, because some of them are like puzzle obstacles and different stuff. I’m a distance runner.”

The obstacle courses at camp will include running as part of military-style training that includes teamwork, fighter jet and plane simulators and land and water survival training.

But Sarah is already a survivor who has overcome great obstacles, which she wrote about in one of her essays. Her attraction to exertion grew from a diagnosis of precocious puberty caused by a pituitary adenoma — a benign tumor in the pituitary gland — three years ago. She needed deep muscle injections to her outer thigh each month that caused intense pain and swelling for up to a week, but she still ran through them until they prevented her from running, at which point she walked. When they prevented her from walking, she encouraged others to keep going. At the worst moments of pain, she was allowed to stay home but rarely did, because she did not want to miss her education.

Family and friends helped her stay positive and press toward her goals, and a local elementary program called Girls on the Run has helped develop Sarah as a runner, to the point that she won her age group in the Founders’ Day 5K this year.

“That’s how I got into running three years ago,” Sarah said. “I run a lot and play softball.”

Softball helps to build teamwork, a skill that will be particularly useful as this camp enhances it, because working well with others helps a lot in employment, Sarah said. She is considering a career in space science and aspires to be an inspiration like some of her teachers.

“I draw a lot of inspiration from teachers, because everyone has a different story,” Sarah said. “Some of the teachers at my school have done amazing things, so I think, ‘Wow, if they can do stuff like that, I can do stuff like this.’”

And Sarah hopes to pay forward her experience at camp to inspire other girls to continue improving numbers of females employed in STEM careers, which she wrote about in her other essay.

Sarah’s gifted teacher sparked her interest in space science through a space olympiad and informed her of the camp and its scholarship opportunity, she said. That scholarship goes to only 18% of this year’s attendees and is worth about $989, Sarah’s mother, Tracy, said.

Although Tracy said the Hoffers must wait to determine which week will fit best in their schedules for Sarah to attend, Sarah wishes it was already here.

“I wish that I could speed up to make it happen and then go back and do it again, because it sounds like so much fun,” Sarah said. “It’s a great opportunity, and I’m going to remember this for forever.”

Contact Zak Kerr at [email protected].