Virginia Beach, Va. - NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson from Hampton is a local legend who was pivotal is the US launching spaceflights.
Her granddaughter, Katherine Sanders, is now carrying on her knowledge and inspiring local youth.
This week she led a summer camp for nine girls on the Tidewater Community College Virginia Beach campus.
“Her inspiration to us as a family is no different than what she shared with the world,” said Sanders about her grandmother.
Johnson told the group of young girls NASA is a darn good place to work.
The legend was featured in the movie Hidden Figures, which highlighted the work of brilliant African-American women who worked for NASA during the Space Race.
“People are touched by her story,” said Sanders.
The theme this week was engineering robotics.
“Teamwork that’s what this is all about,” said Carla Bell Thompson, Project Coordinator.
They built robots, competed and learned about math and science.
Katherine’s Johnson’s great-granddaughter was also at the camp. The third grader got a perfect math score on her Standards of Learning test which shows smart genes run in the family.
“She’s way smarter than me but I’m getting there,” said Na Kia Boykin.
One parent told us the class inspired her daughter.
Parent Heidi Delarosa said, “If they had it (the camp) next month, next week, we would do it again. It’s been great. I hope they continue it.”
The hope is the grow the program and be inspired by women like Katherine Johnson.
To learn about the STEM Promise Program,click here.
The TCC Women's Center STEM Promise Program is a scholarship designed to boost the number of degrees in science, technology and engineering awarded to women and minority students. The scholarship program covers tuition and fees for two full academic years at TCC.
TCC is offering over 90 week-long summer camps on the Chesapeake, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Virginia Beach campuses, and at the Center for Workforce Solutions in Suffolk. Some offerings include drone camps, junior robotics, mobile app design, video game design, coding and virtual reality design.
Learn more about sumer program's at TCC here.
