Lynne Mowbray

For 16-year-old Eve McCarthy, the sky is definitely not the limit!

Eve said that she has grown up in Yamba and loves the beach and describes herself as a huge nerd.

“I love science, I love physics, and I love everything that evolves around it,” said Eve.

“I’m going into my senior years next year and will be working very, very hard and studying a lot, to get into university in the United States.

My whole career goal is to be an astronaut,” she said.

To most, this would sound like a pipe dream, but Eve’s determination to work hard and apply herself to achieve greatness, has already started.

Eve said that last year, her careers advisor at Maclean High School, encouraged her to apply for a scholarship through the Australian branch of Electro Optic Systems, to go to a Space Camp in the United States, for two weeks.

“I had no idea what it was or what in would entail, or what ‘Space Camp’ was,” said Eve.  

“The Space Tour USA trip 2024 – is hosted by the ‘One Giant Leap Australia’, foundation. They’re an organisation that works to create STEM opportunities for students like me in Australia, so that we can connect with other students from around the world, to focus on our careers and become the next astronauts, scientists and engineers.

“When I applied for this scholarship at the end of June 2024, all they asked for was for a letter of recommendation from my principal, a letter of recommendation from my parent and a two-minute video of me talking about myself and what I’m like and interested in.

At the end of July 2024, I received an email from them saying that they really liked my video and ‘congratulations’, you’re going to the United States of America”, she said.

Out of all the students in Australia that applied for this scholarship to go on the USA Space Tour, only 14 were chosen to attend, but Eve was the only one to receive the scholarship, the others had to pay their own way.

“We left on October 29 and returned November 12, so we were away for two weeks,” said Eve.

“The first week we spent in California, which was sort of like the touristy part of the trip and we visited the La Brea Tar Pits (fossilised bones, all from the ice age) and the Griffith Observatory in the Hollywood Hills – (all things space and science) and that was my favourite place.

From there we went to Huntsville, Alabama – the US Space and Rocket Centre, which has hosted the Space Camp for about the last 30 years. Space Camp is something that is set up by NASA and run by NASA. Huntsville is known for its history in space. It’s very big on rockets, and I learnt so much stuff.

We were given engineering challenges, and had night lessons, we did astronaut training and even went scuba diving. We took part in astronaut simulations in which we would run missions to Mars, to Earth, and you could be in the flight shuttle or international space station, or you could be ground crew, at Mission Control. I loved being in Mission Control.

I had a certain role called ‘Socom’, it was amazing.

Socom (US Special Operations Command) is like PAYCOM (Payload Communications Manager) – the only person in the United States that can talk to the International Space Station.  I loved the astronaut missions because they were so technical. Everyone had a role that was very important, and you could get very stressed out, very quickly, but it was so much fun, and I learnt so much,” she said.

Since returning, Eve has shared her experiences speaking at presentations.

“At the end of my presentations, I finish with a piece of advice for those attending.

“If you only take away one thing from this presentation, it would be not to have second thoughts about applying for a scholarship and don’t hold back on anything you do in your life, because it could be immensely important and could change your whole life and view on the world,” she said.

Eve said that she is now a student ambassador for ‘One Giant Leap Australia’.

“What I’m currently doing, is that they have a project called the ‘Connecting Minds Project’, connecting Australian students with Japanese students and I’m leading a team at my school, of students that want to be a part of this project to collaborate with Japanese students on ‘Sustainability in Space’, she said.

 “So, we will work together with the Japanese students to present it in joint with them, at the Osaka World Expo in Japan in 2025.

“I’m trying to give the same opportunity that I had, to the students at my school,” she said.

CAPTION – pics: contributed

1/     Eve McCarthy with the American Ambassadors for Electro Optic Systems.

2/     Eve with a statue of Albert Einstein, at the Griffith Observatory in LA.

3/     A group photo of the Australian students with the ‘One Giant Leap’ representatives at the Los Angeles Airport, after landing.

4/     Eve McCarthy back at home. Image: Lynne Mowbray