Trinidad State is one of 20 institutions of higher education that make up the Colorado Space Grant Consortium. Funded by NASA, the organization, according to their website, “provides Colorado students access to space through innovative courses, real-world hands-on telescope and satellite programs, and interactive outreach programs. Students interact with engineers and scientists from NASA and aerospace companies to develop, test, and fly new space technologies and to support our outreach and teaching programs.”
According to Bernadette Gracia Galvez, Deputy Director of COSGC, Clements’ program is, “wholly unique within the consortium. She determined early on that she did not like the microcontroller we were using to engage beginners and chose one she preferred. She engages a good number of concurrently enrolled high school students — more than any other COSGC program. I have seen firsthand how her teaching approach and high expectation of students results in student success — whether it be with robotics or engaging students who feel like they hate and or can’t do math and then find their way into engineering using math skills they honed under Clements’ tutelage.”
Trinidad alumna, Camille Arnn, agrees, “Working with COSGC completely changed my trajectory. I fully immersed myself in robotics and something shifted for me. I started actually paying attention in my classes, I started trying in my classes and I changed my major from math to engineering.”
After graduating from Trinidad, Arnn earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado Mesa University and went to work in Houston for NASA as a Satellite Systems Engineer. She now works at Astrobotic, an aerospace company in Pittsburgh.