Stephanie Ochoa

I’m 33 years old and late to the party!

Hi, my name is Stephanie Ochoa, this is my first time back in academia since I was 17, and I was far too meek to ask the cantankerous lady at the registrar that I wanted to drop 2 classes, so I got 2 “E’s”, which is what happens when you have 0%. Because I never showed to class and did not realize that it doesn’t drop if you don’t show.

Financial aid doesn’t cover “E’s” is what I learned when I paid for them out of pocket.

It’s been 16 years, I’ve grown and changed and I realized that you really can’t go far without a degree. I currently only have a GED.

So I’m at Penn State for this semester then going back to the University of Utah and Salt Lake Community college to re-do some classes that 17 year old me did. (My parents have been begging for me to come visit anyways.)

The plan was to go to UCLA for my degree since my Dad is alumni, making me legacy but the NASA internships and opportunities to be an astronaut are in Texas.

I was able to sit in on a NASA recruiting event due to being a Penn State student, and I will ever be grateful for it because now I get to talk to NASA about my astronaut aspirations.

I’m just going to see where opportunities are because as an adult I currently self fund myself and school is expensive.