About Skye

Junior

Aerospace Physiology

NASA Solar Systems Ambassador |
Flight Dispatch ERAU Flight Operations

Escaping for a Weekend

Posted on September 25, 2018 by Skye

Hey everyone! I know current students are into the full swing of the fall semester and exams are coming up; however, sometimes it is nice to take a break and escape for a while. I personally have had a lot going on in my personal life and education wise, so I was due for a little getaway.

This past weekend I went to St. Augustine, FL and enjoyed the oldest city in the U.S. I have been a few times before but I never get sick of it. There is so much to do in the city and so much history. The National Registry of Historic Places practically has a plaque on every building.

During this trip, I visited the Alligator Farm and the Pirate Museum. I also hopped on the trolley for a tour around the city. Although I have been on the trolley quite a few times, you always get a different side of the story. The tour guide I had this time, who keep in mind was a 60-year old retired cop, brought up the fact that the KeKe challenge was pointless and dangerous; and that his eight-year-old granddaughter is obsessed with social media.

Sometimes it is nice to escape from all the craziness. Especially since my other passion is animals, I really enjoyed the Alligator Farm. They have all 23 species of crocodiles known to man, a handful of different birds, snakes (ew), and of course a whole lot of American Alligators. There was one crazy guy who was fearless when in the alligator pit. To the point where he smacked them on the snout if they got to close…several times!

Sitting at a table on the top floor overlooking the second-floor dining area

It was hot out, but it was worth it. After walking around the city some more I went to the famous Columbia Restaurant. Their bread…and salad…and everything else on the menu is fantastic! I have never had a bad experience there no matter which location I go to. I was again in good company, and although we were enjoying the time away from school, we still couldn’t stop talking about it.

A lot of people say, alright, no work talk or school talk; but when that is your life, for the time being, it is hard not to talk about it. Especially coming from an aviation school, you can’t not talk about aviation.

It was nice to get away. Especially since there are so many cities close to Riddle. They are great for weekend trips and even fall break. I know we are all cramming in the books and studies all the time but it is good to take a break.

Just remember, it’s always good to have a little fun!

Until next time,

Skye

Fall Semester Game Plan and Astro Skye Update

Posted on September 21, 2018 by Skye

Alright, I can officially say that this semester is in FULL swing. I have dug my feet in the sand and stood my ground. There are quite a few waves trying to knock me down but I am managing. The first few weeks at my other job as a Flight Dispatcher at Flight Ops have been awesome! The job is very fast paced and nothing less than exciting. My classes are going well, managing straight A’s right now and hoping to keep it that way, but my first set of exams start next week so I might not get as much sleep as I hope! That’s the risk of being a college student am I right?! The good news is that I did have time to celebrate the new semester and I headed out to Caribbean Jacks here in Daytona Beach, FL. Caribbean Jerk Chicken Pasta, SOOO GOOD. I have always had that every time I go there. The atmosphere is great and you can’t beat the view if you eat outside. They even have these rocking tables. They are sure to keep you quite entertained during your meal, and of course, I was in great company as well!

For the extra-curricular line-up this semester I am keeping it light. I have learned in the past that you can EASILY become overwhelmed with all of the clubs and activities on campus. With my job at flight ops and blogging, I am maxed out on working hours so I am limited. However, I have made room for one exciting new club: Med Club! This Sunday I start my training for my Certified First Responder (CFR) rating. The training runs about a month and a half or so training every Sunday from 1000-1400. It is a full-on course, syllabus and all. Yes, it does add the course load but I have been pretty good with keeping up with everything so far.

Now for those of you who followed me a couple years ago, you are probably wondering what happened to Astro Skye. Well, she is still here and doing better than ever! Not only have I been updating my website but I now have an Astro Skye Mentorship Program (ASMP). I currently have accepted three mentees and are working with them very closely. ASMP is my baby and I am happy to see where it goes!

As for the summer, I did present at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center once again every Friday for about a month. It was very fast-paced presenting five presentations each time, but I definitely enjoyed it. Once it stopped, it was weird not going to KSC every Friday!

I’m Back!

Posted on September 18, 2018 by Skye

Well hello everyone! I am certainly glad to be back. For the current Eagles reading this, I hope your fall semester is going well, and for the future Eagles, I hope you’re getting ready for a great time.

After taking a year off to study Biology at Stetson, I am happy to say that I am back and in full swing. For those of you who don’t know, I am currently studying Aerospace Physiology. It is the newest major added to the list here at Riddle and I absolutely love it. First three weeks of school have been hectic since I am taking seventeen credits and working two jobs, but if you know me, I love to be nothing short of busy.

I am very happy to be back in Daytona and back at ERAU. The campus has changed with the addition of the student union, which I am very excited to see open in October (fingers crossed) but there is still the same atmosphere. Competitive, hungry, and of course, the sweet sound of airplanes.

I hope you are ready to follow along with my journey because I am certainly ready to be sharing it.

Stay tuned till next time and fly high!

Monday’s Update

Posted on March 8, 2016 by Skye

Hello everyone! I hope your week is going good so far! It’s a crazy week coming up since spring break is right around the corner. Just an update from my side, things have been going really well. Except for the fact that I am extremely tired, I am happy with where I am at.

I recently received an email from NASA regarding the Solar System Ambassador position, the teleconferences are really picking up and I have opportunities to work with STEM education as well so today I resigned as my position as President of Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. My Vice President, Neysha, is taking my place until an official election takes place. I am happy with the half-term I served and I am hopeful for where the club is headed in the future. However, this NASA position is something I cannot turn down. I am really excited to move forward working as an SSA and possible STEM educator.

On other hands, my MOOC for Human Factors in Aviation starts up at the end of the month on March 21, 2016. I am really excited because it is my first MOOC class of the year. I plan to sign up for all of them that are happening this year. MOOC classes are Massive Online Open Classes that are run through Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Worldwide. They range in topics but it only requires 2-3 hours of work during the week and although they are not for college credit, you receive a certificate. It is good to expand your knowledge and put it on your resume. I am super excited for the opportunity.

In the world of “Astro Skye,” I am just about at 5,000 followers on Instagram. I am really excited because I am going to start a giveaway/sweepstakes where a person can win a space care package with some goodies! Some include a photo signed by astronauts, space items, and a couple signed items from me. Astro Skye has really taken off and I can only thank ERAU for educating me on topics that I can include in my other life. I almost feel like Hannah Montana here!

Other than that it is just academics and space. No better combination! I hope you all have a great week and keep chugging along! Spring break is almost here!

Have a great night!

Countdown to Spring Break

Posted on March 7, 2016 by Skye

Happy Saturday everyone! It has been a crazy few weeks on my side so I do apologize for not writing a blog in a bit. However, I am back…and so are the bikes! The 75^th Bike Week is here. Starting yesterday, bikes from all around the country have come down to Daytona Beach for Bike Week 2016. Fun for them, but the traffic is a little bit of a bother.

On the Space side of things, SpaceX finally launched their Falcon 9 with SES-9 yesterday at 18:35:00 on the dot! The original days of launch, last Wednesday and Thursday, I was actually at Kennedy Space Center on restricted ground about 2.8-3.0 miles away from the launch pad. She was sure a beauty! It was really cold there. Even though the rocket never lit, it was still a nice experience seeing a rocket up close. SpaceX then rescheduled for this past Sunday but at less than T-5 seconds and counting, the engines ignited but did not have enough trust to the launch was aborted. After all that mumbo jumbo, she finally launched last night and it was beautiful. I was in Port Orange at that time but seeing the light in the sky fade into a nice parabola into a geotransfer orbit was the best part of my day. I did find out that the satellite deployed nominally. Congratulations for another successful launch and deployment SpaceX!

Keeping on the subject of Space, I am really starting to get involved as a NASA Solar System Ambassador! I have been getting updated on teleconferences up the wazoo, as well as, starting to plan my events for SSA. It is going really well. I will soon have a lot more time on my hands, another story for another time, so I can focus more on SSA. I am excited for the future!

I also registered for Fall classes on Friday. I am super excited to be taking

Physics II for Engineers
Statics
Business Statistics
Technical Report Writing
Spacecraft Payloads
Human Factors in Space

Yep, that is 18 credits but I am up for the challenge!

This semester is certainly going by fast! I have a calculus test on Tuesday so I have been studying all day for that one. I will be taking a break later tonight for Dinner and a Tribute to Bon Jovi concert for the Family Fun Days in Port Orange. Other than that I have a paper due next week but nothing super heavy. I am really excited for Spring Break! On Friday, Josh (boyfriend) and I are leaving for Chicago. We are staying there until the following Tuesday. On that same week, we are going on a cruise Thursday-Sunday for my parent’s 20^th wedding anniversary. Super excited for that! I am going to try and not gain 200 pounds from the all you can eat buffet! I will be sure to get my workout on!

That is what has been happening and what is about to happen in the life of Skye right now! The Countdown to Spring Break is definitely on!

Have a great one!

End of the 6th Week

Posted on February 18, 2016 by Skye

Happy Thursday everyone! It’s practically the end of the week. I like to call my Thursday’s “fake Fridays” due to the fact that I don’t have classes on Thursday’s, so happy fake Friday to me! So far this week has been going pretty well! No school this Monday due to Presidents day, an easy day on Tuesday but a lot of meetings following. Wednesday was great! We had the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E research/informative meeting. We even gained a couple new members.

Some of the research projects we are working on include an Aeroponics system for MEERs, a drone system for MEERS and the Mars research project. It is all going really well. On Space News with Skye I spoke about the Particles of Love: Quantum Mechanics, NSF’s LIGO Gravitational Waves, and Practical Advice for Aspiring Astronauts. It went really well and they were some pretty heavy topics so I am glad I covered them.

Other than that, this week and this weekend is consisting of homework, projects, research, and updating my website. Pretty crazy! I am excited for my classes though. I really am enjoying the book we are reading in Humanities. For once, it is not a half bad book. But, I will admit I LOVE the book I and reading in my intro to CSO class. It is called “The Higher Frontier.” I don’t want to spoil it but you should definitely read it!

One other note! If you have not registered for summer classes! Go and do it! Registration for current students opened February 10!

Couple of events are coming within the next few weeks. For starters, the big elephant in the room, the Daytona 500. For those of you going on Sunday be safe and have fun! I know a lot of Riddle kids are volunteers or workers for the 500 so feel free to say hi!

Next Wednesday SpaceX is launching SES-9 onboard the Falcon 9. I am glad to say that I will be two and a half miles away from the launch pad when this baby comes up, so I am pretty excited!

This Friday at 8:00p in the Student Center, Touch and Go Productions is hosting a casino night in the student center! Go have fun and win some money (hopefully)!

In two weeks, the City of Port Orange is hosting a Family Fun Springfest. It starts Thursday March 3 and ends Sunday March 6. They have a bunch of events, concerts, rides, competitions, movie night and much more! I do plan on attending so I will let you all know how it goes!

And so too be in about 3 weeks, we have spring break folks! Keep up the hard work and keep pushing!

End of 5th Week Update

Posted on February 17, 2016 by Skye

Hello hello everybody! I know I am writing a tad bit late about the fifth week, but as they say, better late than never! Last week was crazy! Between exams, meetings, and well, more meetings, it felt like the week never ended. I had a lot of meetings with my officers for Society 4 S.P.A.C.E trying to start up the organization, and trying to get the officers more comfortable with their roles. The meeting on Wednesday went extremely well! The officers got a chance to introduce themselves and talk about their roles, as well as, a few announcements regarding fundraisers, launches, events, and more. Space News with Skye went really well too! I spoke about the James Webb Telescope and how it is helping to find the origin of galaxies and stars. Also, how it is not only looking at our solar system, but others in search of life. The James Webb telescope is scheduled to launch October 2018. Another thing I spoke about was the State of NASA. It aired on February 9, 2016. Charlie Bolen, former astronaut and now NASA Administrator, spoke about NASA’s budget for the upcoming years. In the speech he said that we are requesting a little over 19 billion dollars for the 2017 Fiscal Year and by 2021 they expect to be requesting over 21 billion. More money for space flight!

This was not even the half of it! A day or so before the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. meeting, I decided to get into the holiday spirit (Valentine’s Day). I went out and bought little gift bags and filled them with glow-in-the-dark space cards, Hershey kisses, and a glow stick to give to the members. They really enjoyed the gesture. After that, I gave my officers little goodie bags for my appreciation of having them on board as well as their support. At the end of the week, it finally was over and I was really excited for Valentine’s Day. On Valentine’s Day, Josh (my boyfriend), Tank (our dog), and I decided to go up to Kissimmee and stay the night. We left at about 11:00a for Kissimmee and decided to go hiking. We had so much fun! We probably were hiking for a couple of hours. While on the route, we happened to see two log cabins, one built in 1920 and the other one built in 1818. It was really awesome seeing something built that long ago. It was a nice day out as well so we went hiking through the woods. What really amazed the both of is was the fact that this hiking park was right in the middle of the city! A city! And it was one of the most amazing hiking spots I have been to. I highly recommend it if you’re a hiker!

I am easy to please, so instead of a fancy dinner, we found a restaurant that gave us 15% off just for being guests at the hotel. It was called Wildside. Oh my gosh! I ordered a smoke stack burger. It was a burger with BBQ pulled pork, and BBQ sauce. It was one of the best burgers I have had! Again, if you go to Kissimmee, you have to go there! We also got chips and salsa and an appetizer but since our food came out first they took the chips and salsa off the check, plus our 15% off so you can say it was a good dinner!

If you get the chance I highly recommend going to Kissimmee. There is a lot to do and we were only there for a night.

Have a great week everyone!

5th Week Update

Posted on February 9, 2016 by Skye

Happy Monday everyone! Or should I say one of the busiest Mondays ever! I hope your weekend was great! Congratulations to the Denver Broncos on their Super Bowl 50 win! It was really an amazing game. Defensive and offensive. I don’t really follow football, but I did go for the Carolina Panthers solely because I liked the color blue on their uniforms. Anyway, it’s the 5^th week of school! One of the craziest weeks scheduled so far! As for today, I had class from 8:00a – 12:00p. I lucked out and did not have a quiz in Physics today. Everyone was exhausted and I am assuming the teacher was too. From 12:00p – 5:00p it was studying after studying for my calculus exam tomorrow. 5:00p – 7:00p was an officers meeting for Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. We got a lot accomplished! We decided on our trip to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, the website, and also decided to host a fundraiser next Tuesday! Progress!

Unfortunately this is not the end of my day. 7:30p – 8:00p dinner, 8:00p – 9:00p studying for calculus, again, 9:00p – odd hours of the night studying calculus with a friend – whenever I sleep is humanities homework. So a very packed and crazy Monday/Tuesday. However, I really am excited for this week because I have my first NASA Solar System Ambassador (SSA) telecom with NASA! Super exciting! I have to complete my Orientation and Training tomorrow along with my other homework. At this rate, this week may never end!

BUT it is a holiday week! A double header…almost! Valentine’s Day is on Sunday! A time for love and love and more love. I am a very crafty person and have a lot of fun creative gifts for my boyfriend. I also plan on making cupcakes for my friends. For all of you Valentine’s Day celebraters, have fun! Love and give someone a hug! Or a cupcake! President’s Day is on Monday and we do not have school. Yay break!

Almost a break for me, I have a research meeting, lunch meeting, fundraising meeting, and officer meeting on Monday so looks like more going and going. I will tell you this, one thing about Riddle that I love is that it doesn’t matter if it is the classes, or the clubs, you will ALWAYS be busy. For a person like me, who loves being busy, I absolutely love it. If I am not busy, I will find something to do whether that is to finally start my Russian Rosetta Stone, read, or watch Netflix. When I am busy, I feel like I am creating the best out of life. I am in college, this is the time to work your butt off for the career you want, and I feel like I am fulfilling that to the max! It makes me happy.

Speaking about college and career, registration for summer classes is on Wednesday! For the crazy people like me, I will be attending Summer A and B. However, for those of you on the fence about summer classes, here is some advice from someone who took summer classes last semester, me. I personally LOVE summer classes. It is tough and condensed, but you get the chance to get ahead and leave the “not so fun classes” for the summer, therefore you knock them out a lot quicker. It gives you a quicker graduation date, which means starting your career quicker. Think about it.

Anyway, it’s off to dinner and more studying/homework for me. Have a great week everyone and study hard!

kennedy space center

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Skye

Happy Thursday! One more day until Friday! Luckily, I have Thursdays off so I get to relax a bit before homework and studying. Anyway, last week ERAU hosted the Student Activities Fair here on campus. It was a great success! Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. won Jeopardy last semester so we got the chance for early registration. We picked a table right in front of the College of Arts and Science. Prime real estate! It was a total success. We had 68 people sign up and stop by the booth. We brought the famous space man out, our rockets, the ASRV, weather balloon and much more! I lucked out this year at the Student Activities Fair. I had 10 volunteers from the club.

The one thing I really enjoy about the Student Activities Fair each semester is that it gives the club officers, as well as the members, a chance to meet new faces and expand the knowledge of their organization and their mission. For instance, when I was at the booth for Society 4 S.P.A.C.E., I loved seeing the smiling faces of all the students when they saw the space man, the rockets, and everything else we had out to display. There was some real interest and promise in the future members. I loved explaining to them what the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E is all about and how we are heavily dedicated towards research. Especially this semester, due to new opportunities, we are able to do more research than ever before, which gives our members and greater chance of success.

I can’t wait for the success of next semesters student activities fair!

Have a great rest of the week everyone!

Space and more Space!

Posted on February 4, 2016 by Skye

Happy Wednesday everyone! It is the middle of the week and we have almost made it through! Well, with Wednesday practically over, two more days to go! As I mentioned in my last post, it has been a crazy day today! With class from 8:00a-12:00p, working lunch from 12:00p-12:30p, pre-interview prep 12:30p-2:00p and interviews from 2:00p-5:00p, pre-meeting prep from 5:00p-6:00p AND finally the meeting from 6:00p-7:00p, it has been non-stop!

Classes went really well today. Especially my humanities class. The theme for HU145 in my class, in particular, is music. Mostly jazz and blues but it is still music! One of my fellow classmates plays a bunch of different instruments and we had the honor of listening to him play two pieces: a famous ragtime piece and the classic “In The Mood” jazz piece. As a person coming from a musical background, I do in fact love the class; it was a treat hearing someone play an instrument who has a passion and dedication to music.

Interviews for the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E. officers went great as well! 8 interviewees total and myself, along with the vice president, decided on the new board of officers right as the interviews ended! I am really looking forward to starting this semester with a new board. The meeting was also a huge success. We spoke about all the research that we are going to be conducting. Some include aeroponics, drones, solar system, propulsion and much more. This semester is going to be greater than ever!

On top of the space from school, I recently got more information about the NASA Solar System Ambassador position. I have to complete Orientation and Ethics training, which I will be doing tomorrow and then I can finally plan my speeches! I am so excited!

Another treat, on Friday, after classes of course, I get to take my second solo trip down to Kennedy Space Center for a couple reasons. One, my old fifth grade PE/Drama teacher is bringing a group of his school kids up so I will get to see him in the first time in 4-5 years! Plus I get to talk to his kids a little about NASA and KSC. Secondly, I have a meeting with the VP of New Business Development, or as she likes me to call her my abuela. I will have the chance to talk to her about the NASA SSA position as well as a NASA trip for the Society 4 S.P.A.C.E group.

A lot of space stuff is happening in my life and I am super excited! I’ll be sure to keep you updated! Have a great rest of the week!

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