[00:00:00] Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and shared network produced by off the Walter media productions.
[00:00:14] Sheryl: Welcome to hearts of gold. Today. We have Gitika with us. Hi Gitika!
[00:00:19] Gitika: Hi, thank you so much for having me. I’m so excited to be here.
[00:00:22] Sheryl: We’re excited to have you here. Can you tell us about your girl scout gold award project?
[00:00:27] Gitika: So I got my gold award in March and it was a project on spreading space education to students across the world.
[00:00:34] This project idea really stemmed in eighth grade and ever since then, I’ve been working in developing a nonprofit organization ignited thinkers. And for my goal to work project, I really elevated my organization by doing more projects and more long-term webinars and workshops that students can have access to and developing free resources that every student can have access to as well.
[00:00:56] So really my gold award project was expanding on ignited thinkers, which I can explain a little bit later on. You know, motivation and inspiration behind founding it. But also my project was on breaking stereotypes in the aerospace industry. A lot of the times I noticed when working with younger students or even talking with professionals in the industry, there’s a lot of like imposter syndrome or students not knowing that they can be a part of a certain career.
[00:01:20] So through my goal to work project, I really wanted to. Your show, these stereotypes are completely false and every single person can be a part of the industry. And then there’s so many diverse careers. So really it’s kind of a multiple folds go to work project, but I’m excited to share a little bit more about it later.
[00:01:35] Sheryl: What was the inspiration for your project?
[00:01:37] Gitika: In middle school I got into rocketry. So earlier, before that in elementary school, I never really was a huge space fan. Like I always intrigued by space by gravity, how it all works, but I never thought of it as like a real career. But then. The school. I ended up joining a rocketry club because of my middle school tech ed teacher.
[00:01:57] And absolutely just fell in love with building model rockets. I remember I would stay after school, like three hours every day, just to build those model rockets and fly them and launch them best experiences of my life. And then that summer I applied for a NASA summer program. It was like a one week program at NASA Goddard.
[00:02:15] And I got in, which was exceptional. When I got, when I was at NASA, I learned about the various careers that exist and how I could potentially even work at NASA when I grow up. And that really got me excited. And so I was telling my parents you know, at a rocket launch, this is what I want to do. I really want to go into this.
[00:02:32] And my parents were like, you’re so lucky to have had this opportunity. And at that point in time, I have been in girl Scouts since kindergarten. And so girl Scouts has been a huge part of who I am. So volunteering community service has always been something that I do on a daily basis. So when my parents were saying how lucky I was to have these opportunities to get a part of the space industry, it kind of made me realize that, wow, wait, I am really lucky that to have this rockertry space club I’m sure not every student has access to these. So at that moment, I knew that I wanted to change this. And so kind of an inner girl scout in me was like, I’m going to do something. Even if it’s a small scale, I would want to, if even if I impact one other student out there to get into the industry, that would be a huge win for me.
[00:03:15] So that was really the inspiration behind my gold award project and in general, it’s kind of even beyond a gold award project in my eyes. So in eighth grade, I started working on developing this non-profit organization where it conducts like free webinars workshops, and also has like a YouTube channel kind of similar to this highlighting diverse face champions in the industry.
[00:03:36] I also provide free resources for students with different, like internships, fellowships that very students can get engaged with. Really, I’m just wanting to show that there’s so many opportunities and I want to provide that free access place for students to explore their love for aerospace.
[00:03:52] So that was kind of what I started in eighth grade. You know, throughout middle school, I was earning my silver award and then I also was like, oh, I need to get started my goal to work project. And I already started this organization in eighth grade, but the gold award gave me an opportunity and it kind of like built in time to, in my high school life in order to even make the organization more impactful and sustainable, because I definitely wanted to be able to reach out to more students and have like a lasting impact, not just me, giving a webinar or workshop, but having that lasting effect, which the gold award taught me a lot about sustainability. And so through the golden award project, I got, you know, had an opportunity to talk with various other girl Scouts in the aerospace industry shed light onto students and the various careers there are.
[00:04:38] And so overall that was kind of the inspiration behind my gold award project.
[00:04:42] Sheryl: Your website is beautiful. How did you find so many partners and create your international presence with your website?
[00:04:51] Gitika: When I was in eighth grade, I knew I wanted to reach out everywhere. It wasn’t like a certain geographic location or a certain target audience.
[00:04:58] I need to show this to anyone that I can and share my love for space, because if I didn’t have that middle school rocketry club, I would have never gotten into the space industry. So just kind of thinking about it in that perspective, there’s so many students who don’t have this rocketry club back and get them excited about space.
[00:05:15] So I started reaching out, literally both of my parents, neither of them are in the space industry. So I literally was just searching up on the internet space organizations, you know international space organizations, or space organizations. Space organizations in Africa and India. And I just there’d be like hundreds of websites out come up and I would just reach out to every single one of them.
[00:05:36] I remember it had like a template email that I would send to everyone, introducing myself, my mission with ignited thinkers. And I just kind of threw my shot in the air and was like, okay, let’s see if anyone responds. And there were people who were very willing to support me. Even though I was only in eighth grade.
[00:05:52] Now that I think about it, I was eighth grader. So I had a lot of things I could bring to the plate. But at that time, I didn’t know if anybody, would you know take me seriously considering I was, you know, in middle school, but people did. And I thought that was amazing. And so I just randomly kept emailing and, you know, ever since then, I kind of built like an ecosystem around me and was able to find organizations who are willing to collaborate, do webinars together.
[00:06:18] And I just kind of built that community around me. And once I got into high school I realized that just reaching out through email, wasn’t the best way to reach out to a large audience. So I started getting social media. I always used to have like a negative perception on social media. I was like, oh, you know, Instagram, Facebook it’s really bad for you.
[00:06:37] It’s really dangerous. I mean, that’s kind of what I was brought up around and I realized that’s wrong. It’s kind of the way you use social media that matters. And so I created an account and I would reach out to space professionals through LinkedIn or Twitter, and I’d be like you know, Hey, this is, this is who I am, and this is my organization.
[00:06:55] Is there any way you could provide any support or advice or come in as a guest speaker to one of the webinars of conducting. And they would respond and, you know, if not all of them, at least 90% of them would, and everyone was very supportive. So it was a matter of taking that initiative and the first step to go out of your way to ask people and not be afraid.
[00:07:14] So I think that something for me was girl scout has taught me to be a bold person. And so I would never be afraid of a rejection. But also stems from me playing basketball. I’ve always been a basketball player and I won one specific quote that Olympic gold medalist said that stuck with me when playing basketball throughout the years was you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.
[00:07:34] And so again, stuck with me and I was like, wait, if I don’t even take that initiative, that first step to take the shot, then of course, they’re going to say no, of course it’s going to be a rejection, but maybe they could say yes. So I always, you know, even if it’s a very long shot, I would always take that opportunity to ask someone.
[00:07:52] So that’s kind of how I tried to build that ecosystem and community and develop an international.
[00:07:58] Sheryl: Given that you miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take, who was somebody that you dreamed of interviewing that you never thought you’d have a chance to interview, and you were able to connect with them?
[00:08:09] Gitika: I’d still love to interview, but the one that lady or there’s. Oh, this is a really hard question. But you know, because I’m doing a video on girl Scouts, it would definitely have to be a Mrs. Sylvia Acevedo. And so she and my shirt was actually saying a girl scout and they’re like a rocket scientist.
[00:08:25] I don’t know if you can say, but she is a huge role model of mine. She actually was a girl scout was a little girl and she was she was a girl scout CEO till 2016 I believe. And she was a rocket scientist who worked on various NASA missions as well. And so she is a huge inspiration to me because she has a whole book on pathways to the stars from a girl scout to rocket scientist.
[00:08:47] And I feel like I have a similar interest as her and just know how girl scout has supported her into becoming a rocket scientist. You know, incredible to read. So when I reached out to her on like LinkedIn not expecting a response at all, she did respond to me saying how she would love to like, you know, share her story on like a YouTube interview.
[00:09:07] I was just mind blown. And so that was an amazing interview that I am so thankful. She took her time to inspire me and inspire other kids because she’s a huge inspiration.
[00:09:17] Sheryl: What is a favorite memory from your gold award project?
[00:09:20] Gitika: There’s so many every time I work and engage with kids it’s of course the best memories ever.
[00:09:26] You know, one step back during the gold award was definitely the pandemic because I had to conduct virtual webinars when I was pitching and proposing my gold award in the early 10th grade. Hoping for an in-person workshop. And so that’s kind of what my proposal was based off of, but I had to kind of adapt with COVID.
[00:09:45] But still I was able to reach out to, I think, around 300 kids virtually and especially in areas of title one schools. So for my gold award, I focused on low income communities and schools to share sprays, just spread space education. And so when I was giving those webinars I remember my favorite moment was when, at the end of one of them three girls kind of.
[00:10:06] You know, at the end, it kind of stayed back and were like, I want to become a rocket scientist like you, when I grow up. And I was like, I’m not a rocket scientist, but like just hearing them saying that they wanted to pursue a career in the space industry and how they like looked up to what I was doing.
[00:10:20] It was just an amazing feeling. And I, you know, gave me so much joy. So I think that would have to be my most favorite part. But every single time I interact with kids, it’s just an amazing experience. Cause they always have questions. It always makes me think and it always makes me want to learn.
[00:10:35] Sheryl: What did you learn about the gold award process that might be valuable to others to know as they’re trying for their gold awards?
[00:10:43] Gitika: Look at the gold award as not only just like a checkbox, I mean, you have to do as a girl scout or something you just need to do, but think of it as like a passion lifelong project. I think girl scouts really instills you ever since you were a little girl, like community service, leadership change, you know, be a change maker, be a girl the world needs.
[00:11:02] And I think elevating that and, you know, showing girls through your gold award project that you are, you’re making an actual difference, you know, Throughout the girl scout program. It, you know, you are equipped with many skills and you discover your passion. Maybe you find a niche interest, your, you want to do, when you grow up and so treat the gold award as a place for you to do something that you’re passionate about.
[00:11:23] Not just some thing you have to complete. Or just you know, it’s a requirement you have to fulfill. So for me, when I took ignited thinkers and it was kind of stemming from the idea that I would have to do a gold award in the future, but taking it as a project that I want to continue, even after girl Scouts throughout my life, I always want to expand on ignited thinkers.
[00:11:41] So you know, for me, the reason I was able to conduct and I would say successfully conduct my girl gold award to work project was because I viewed it as like a lifelong passion project. And so that’s something that was the, that would be the advice that I would give to every girl scout.
[00:11:56] Sheryl: What are your dreams for the future of ignited thinkers?
[00:11:59] Gitika: So I hope that ignited thinkers can be an organization where every student can have an opportunity to explore different sectors in the aerospace industry. A lot of the times we have there’s lot. There’s a lot of programs for older students to get involved in the space industry, whether it be a fellowship like the Brooklyns fellowship or space X internships or NASA.
[00:12:20] But there’s not a lot on the younger children and how they’re interested in this space, what can ignite their passion for the industry? So I hope and ignited thinkers can have you know, events for students to work in teams to you know, explore different sectors of industry, whether it be space, policy, or engineering
[00:12:37] space or satellite building, you know, like cube sets or programming that can be applied to space technology, space medicine, something that I’m particularly interested in. So I think just showing the different sectors in the space, in the space industry, having like you know, team building activities where students can get ignited with their passion
[00:12:56] industry be my long-term goal. Just you know, for example, to put this into a better perspective, there is the first robotics program where students from K through 12 can get involved in robotics. It’s a competition team-based program. And I want to create something similar, but for space, education and rocketry.
[00:13:15] So I hope ignited thinkers can be that global platform future.
[00:13:19] Sheryl: What do you think of the current privatization of space travel?
[00:13:23] Gitika: I think it makes space more accessible to everyone. And it also allows us to kind of go beyond just the regulations, think of space exploration as something that everyone can be a part of without these borders and nationalities.
[00:13:36] I know a lot of times with the government agencies, it was always like a space race between which countries the best, but with private commercialization of space, it kind of, you know, it’s like about everyone, everyone going to space, us working together. And also it provides more job opportunities in the space sector.
[00:13:53] I feel like a lot of the times, especially those who are not in the industry, don’t realize the value of space innovation, you know, whether it be from your phone to computers, to, you know, tracking climate change, all of that is based off of space technology and the innovation that happened in the aerospace sector.
[00:14:11] So you know, increasing the job opportunities in the industry will in turn increase innovation. So that makes me very excited. And I think commercialization of space is just exciting and every aspect and will inspire more students to get involved in the industry.
[00:14:25] Sheryl: What are you planning on for your future?
[00:14:27] Gitika: I hope to definitely become an astronaut, but an airspace medical physician. So to kind of break it a little bit apart is ever since I was a little girl, I was always interested in medicine and the human body. I think the unknown aspect of why our human body works the way it does has always excited me.
[00:14:47] And combining that with aerospace and going into aerospace medicine. Something that, you know, I’m definitely wanting to do in the future. And I would like to do like space biology research, figure out how the human body behaves without the element of gravity. See if we can discover you know, new genetic things that we didn’t know before about our body, when we’re in micro gravity environments and just develop technology to help astronauts in space, and then translate that into helping humans.
[00:15:14] So like for example I’ve been looking this into, into this a lot recently, but when you’re in space, for example, there’s a lot of bone loss. Well, not anymore, but there used to be a lot of bone loss and like degenerative diseases that would occur in space. And this is because when you’re in microgravity, you’re not exercising.
[00:15:33] And so your bone, you’re not really using your bone weight either, so you kind of lose bone mass but and so now astronauts exercise and space to combat this, but when you’re back on earth, a lot of the older population also tends to grow weaker and lose bone mass as they grow older. And so seeing how the astronauts body behaves see if there’s certain genes that come into play.
[00:15:55] To helping us understand how a bone loss here works on earth will help us develop technology to help like senior citizens kind of overcome the bone loss that happens. So really the aerospace medicine sector excites me greatly because I think not only are we helping astronaut explore going further into space, but also we can translate that medical understanding and to helping treat, you know, cancer or treating different diseases here on earth as well.
[00:16:22] Sheryl: You have a benefit that you can offer the space program already, and that is that you speak multiple languages. Can you tell us what languages you speak and how you learned them?
[00:16:31] Gitika: Obviously I’m an immigrant to the United States, both my parents are from India. I already was growing up with multiple languages in the house.
[00:16:39] So English, because I would learn in school, but also my mother tongue, which was Telgue. But my parents also grew up In India. And so they learn the national language of India, which is Hindi. So I grew up in the house already as a young girl with English and Hindi in my house. And so I knew those three languages very well.
[00:16:58] And then I started taking Chinese and well Mandarin in my elementary school because my school required it. So K through sixth grade I learned Mandarin and I continued on with it. And in high school and middle school, I actually took French. So that kind of was another language added into my basket. And I always loved traveling.
[00:17:17] So languages has always been exciting for me because it gives me an opportunity to learn about different cultures and also like go to the restaurants and talk in that language. Super exciting. So already I had English. They’ll do hindi, the Mandarin and French. And as I got into high school in like 10th, 11th grade, I started exploring because I wanted to become a physician.
[00:17:39] I realized that a large population in America is Spanish speaking. So I started learning Spanish, using Duolingo. And I realized Portuguese was kind of similar. So I started learning Portuguese. So Spanish and Portuguese kind of go together. And I’ve been using that during Duolingo or using websites like this is language.
[00:17:57] And I used to just, you know, spend like, you know, a few minutes kind of just learning new words every day and trying to piece everything together. So languages is definitely something that is difficult to learn, but I think making it kind of a daily habit or. Growing around it as well has helped me gain that skills.
[00:18:14] Sheryl: What other girls scout experiences have you had?
[00:18:16] Gitika: Currently I am one of the two team board of directors for the girl scout nation’s Capitol, where I represent Virginia, Maryland, Washington, DC, and West Virginia. And also one of the girl scout. Girls advisory board members for the girl scout USA. So I’m one of the 15 girls where I represent the teen boys and the national level, which is amazing.
[00:18:38] And so previously before this year, I was part of, I was a teen delicate, like the service new delegate for girl Scouts. And I was also part of the girls advisory board just for the nation’s capital. So leadership positions has always been something that I was looking forward to because it gave me an opportunity to improve the program that has given me so much.
[00:18:58] So of course, I mean, let’s, I guess I can kind of backtrack a little bit and go back to kindergarten. I think the experiences that kind of stand out to me are definitely the camping experiences. I love going out with my troop and just spending the night or spending the day going horseback riding or doing archery or different like cool adventure camps
[00:19:16] so definitely the camping parts were exciting. Also working on my bronze award in sixth grade with my troop being a part of different. You know, badge events, badge activities, whether it be like thinking day activities or earning my medical aid you know, badge, that was always exciting. So ever since K through eighth grade, I’ve been a huge badge earner and you can see my sash is kind of filled with badges and my participation in girl Scouts.
[00:19:44] That’s what I did. And as I got into high school, I realized that girl Scouts gives girls an opportunity to provide their input of what’s improved in the program, whether it be equity issues, they seem the community or more patches that they want to implement. So I thought it would be a great way for me to kind of give back to the program,
[00:20:02] so I became a service unit delegate and then I kind of applied to be a team board of director and girls advisory board member. And so that’s kind of my involvement in girl Scouts. Provides me a great place to find friends and develop a sisterhood, but also connect with professionals in the industry who are a part of the girl scout alumni.
[00:20:21] I’ve had the great opportunity to working with great people like Mrs. Sotta Harmon, who is the CEO of girl scout nation’s Capitol. And she connected me with amazing individuals in the aerospace industry, which I’m interested in going into, so girl scouts has been every step of my life. And so I it’s, I’ve been heavily involved in it in any way I could.
[00:20:42] Sheryl: Is there anything else you’d like to share with the audience?
[00:20:44] Gitika: Always believe in yourself and never give up because I know it sounds super, like everyone says that, but it’s actually really true. I remember in middle school, when I was telling you guys earlier, where I didn’t receive responses from, you know, a few organizations that I did reach out to You know, not seeing anything in my inbox, even though I kept refreshing every day, was a little disappointing.
[00:21:05] But I would never give up. Cause I believed in my idea, I believed that it would have a huge impact on students and in the long run. Now that I, you know, I still have a long way to go with ignited thinkers, but just seeing the impact I was able to make in two to three years and how I was able to start
[00:21:20] so many space clubs in various parts of the world, um able to inspire young girls and students around the world to get a career in the aerospace industry. It just makes me like, so like I achieved my goal of impacting at least one person. So I think just knowing that to always like, believe in yourself and your idea, and to just never give up on your idea, because it probably is going to impact someone out there.
[00:21:44] So the advice that I would give is just to never give up.
[00:21:47] Sheryl: How do you make your smores?
[00:21:48] Gitika: So I am actually not a huge marshmallow fan, which I know may come a little shocking. Cause I know a lot of people like marshmallows there’s even the smores cookie. I like to just have the chocolate and the Graham crackers together.
[00:21:59] And occasionally, sometimes I’ll maybe like the slightly roast my marshmallows and have it together, but usually I just kind of take out the marshmallows because I’m not a huge marshmallow person and have the chocolate and the Graham crackers.
[00:22:11] Sheryl: Well, thanks for joining us today.
[00:22:13] Gitika: Thank you so much for having me!
[00:22:15] Sheryl: Make sure to always click, follow or subscribe so you always know when new episodes are released, and don’t forget to, power your passions and conquer your challenges.
[00:22:29] Walter: The hearts of gold podcast is brought to you by the grow and shared network produced by off the Walter media productions. Thank you for listening and spreading the word on what we do.
[00:22:38] If you want to share your story of how you earned your gold award, reach out and send an email to growandshare@outlook.com. Be sure to listen to the newest episodes on your favorite podcast app, as well as view the full video episodes on youtube.com/SherylMRobinson. That’s youtube.com/Sheryl, the letter M, Robinson. Take care, and we’ll see you next time.
