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This 12-year-old genius has her sights set on becoming a NASA engineer
Alena Wicker will be attending college this May.
A gifted 12-year-old is making waves as a soon-to-be college student with plans to work as a NASA engineer.
Alena Wicker, who lives in Texas, will be virtually attending Arizona State University this May after she graduates high school. There, she intends to double major in astronomical and planetary science and chemistry to further her dream of working at NASA as an engineer.
It's a dream she intends to make a reality, and one that she's had ever since she was little, Alena told "Good Morning America."
Originally, she said, she wanted to be an astronomer, but then she decided to switch over to engineering because of her love of building things.
"I would love to build a rover to go to space," Alena said.
Her mom, Daphne McQuarter, noted that while Alena's dream may have had little tweaks here and there, the main goal has always been the same.
"She would always say 'Mommy, I'm going to work for NASA,'" McQuarter recounted to "GMA." "Then she would start saying, 'I'm going to be the youngest Black girl to ever work for NASA -- watch.'"
It all started with Legos
Everything, from Alena's passion for building to her current aspirations, can be traced back to one main thing: Legos.
"Ever since I was 4, I loved playing around with different types of Legos," Alena said.
It was then that her mom knew she was gifted.
"She would organize the Legos by color, by size," McQuarter said. "She was always strategic with her Legos, and if you messed up her Legos, it was a whole problem. If you took one of her Legos out of the little set, she knew that one of her Legos were missing."
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