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Name:Marah Azzam
Program: Aerospace Bachelor's-Accelerated Master's Student

My name is Marah Azzam, I grew up in Nazareth, the holy land. As you might imagine it is a beautiful place full of rich history, people and tourists who are interested in the region. However, I was always looking up to the sky admiring the universe rather than the land.

This admiration became tangible, when an astrophysicist came to my fifth grade class and opened my eyes to the beauty of the stars, planets and galaxies, and the human mind that allows us to design and innovate systems that enable us to explore those wonders of the universe.

From that point on it was clear to me that designing spacecraft for space exploration is my dream, therefore I needed to pursue aerospace engineering.

Fast forward seven years: I am in twelfth grade and I know I want to study aerospace engineering, the question is where. I started researching my options, and realized how advanced the USA is in higher education especially in the aerospace field.Ìý

Therefore, I decided to leave the holy land, and head to the land of the free. The only thing left is to decide what colleges to apply to.Ìý

TheÌýresearchÌýbeganÌýagain.ÌýIÌýlaidÌýoutÌýmyÌýoptionsÌýbased on my preferences, the acceptance rates, and the deadlines for each (little did I know I was doing a trade study). Naturally, Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder was my top choice, since it offers an outstanding curriculum for aerospace full of hands-on experiences, research opportunities, and the vast number of astronauts who graduated from Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØobviously pushed the university to the top of my list.

The dream is finally on its right path, I got into Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder to pursue my bachelors degree in aerospace engineering. During those years, I gained significant technical knowledge in my field, built a versatile network around me full of professors who I worked with in teaching as a facilitator, in research as an assistant and from my classes.Ìý

Additionally I made life long friends who inspire me and push me to do my greatest. This safe, encouraging, intelligent environment that Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder offers is not found anywhere else, and it allowed my love for aerospace to grow bigger each day, that I decided to stay and pursue a master’s degree in aerospace engineering.Ìý

I got into the master’s program as a BAM student (Bachelor’s - Accelerated Master’s) with a focus in Bioastronautics and completing a certificate in satellite system design. Right now, I am in my first year of full graduate courses, taking graduate projects and working with sponsors who directly produce the spacecraft I dreamed about in my fifth grade class.Ìý

Little me didn't realize that I would reach this point, but here I am still looking up, still admiring space, but with knowledge and achievements that Â鶹Ãâ·Ñ°æÏÂÔØBoulder allowed me to do.