“Being Navajo has shaped almost every single aspect of my life. Growing up, we were always taught that we should think of ways to be useful for our community. They encourage us to get an education and find ways that we can develop skills to help people back home.
“I’ve found recently in my job I’m not only working as a mechanical engineer for NASA, but I am also doing a lot of outreach and being a role model for Native American communities. I love seeing the spark in young kids’ eyes when they see somebody that looks like them working on big missions like the Curiosity Rover or the Perseverance Rover. It shows them that they don’t have to stick to what they know or what they’ve been shown all their lives––they can do anything! The options are endless.
“For me, [I relate to] students of all ages––young students getting that first idea of what they dream to do and high school students taking big steps figuring out where they want to go to school. I took a big leap of faith when I applied to Stanford and was one of the first in my hometown to go to a place like that.
“Every step of the way, there’s always something that the students are looking to learn. I don’t always have the answers, but I have a full experience of what I think they’re going through and love being that source of inspiration and knowledge. It’s a really great way for me to feel like I am giving back to my community.”
—Aaron Yazzie, Mechanical Engineer for Planetary Sample Acquisition and Handling, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Image Credit: NASA / Ryan Lannom
Interviewer: NASA / Tahira Allen