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Lindbergh High School student wins NASA award, will chat with rover team Tuesday

Kevin S. Held

In this handout provided by NASA, the Navigation Cameras, or Navcams, aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover captured this view of the rover’s deck on February 20, 2021 on the planet Mars. The Perseverance Mars rover landed on Mars Thursday, February 18, 2021. A key objective for Perseverance's mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planet's geology and past climate, paving the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith. (Photo by NASA via Getty Images)

ST. LOUIS – A junior at Lindbergh High School is one of 19 students nationwide to win NASA’s You’ve Got Perseverance Award.

Mehtap Akcaoglu will get to participate in a video chat with members of the Perseverance rover team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in La Cañada Flintridge, California.

The video chat will take place Tuesday, Dec. 6, at 11:45 a.m. Akcaoglu will also receive a special message sent directly from the Mars rover.

Nora LaFata, a biology and biomedical science teacher at LHS, nominated Akcaoglu for the award this past November.

Akcaoglu immigrated to the United States from Turkey six years ago. According to a school spokesperson, she’s adjusted to the culture and overcome the language barrier, and become a mentor to others in class.

The You’ve Got Perseverance Award is for students who have demonstrated dedication and determination in their academic pursuits.