Our team constructed three different personas to represent the variety of students we met during our research.

Faith Hudson (Primary Persona)

Faith, a “B student” in the eleventh grade, has fond memories of building a model of the solar system in elementary school, but hasn't really learned much about space since then.

Nevertheless, she gets very interested when she does hear something about space that she relates to; her brother told her about Pluto’s recent change in classification and she excitedly passed the news on to all of her friends.

Chemistry is Faith’s favorite subject because of the hands-on experiments, and she really enjoys school when what she learns just "clicks together" for her (an experience that gives her a sense of confidence and pride). After school, she goes to the Boys and Girls Club, where she tutors 7–10 year olds and plays board games like Scrabble with her friends. Faith loves both activities because she often learns something new from them: teaching the younger children is an educational experience itself (and she's often amazed by how much the kids actually teach her), and even Scrabble and Apples to Apples present opportunities for her to learn new things while having fun.

However, Faith is applying for college next year and has no idea what she wants to study or do for a living. Her parents and school advisor have recently been pressuring her to start thinking about it, but she feels stressed and lost without direction.

Steve Brown

Steve is entering his freshman year of college at Caltech. He attended space camp when he was 12, and has been in love with space ever since.

Space appeals to him because of the big questions it raises: he's fascinated by theories of extraterrestrial life and the size of the universe. He developed an affinity for space books over the years, and Death by Black Hole inspired him so much that he even formed his high school's first space club. He has excelled in science and loves the subject, even winning a regional science fair during his senior year; however, he doesn't put much effort into his humanities classes and is particularly bored by history.

Physics is his favorite subject because of how it explains the world around him; however, Steve decided to study electrical engineering in college because it teaches him how everyday things work and gives him the opportunity to make things. Still, he hopes to double major in physics and join the astronomy club to accommodate his interest in space. Steve fills the rest of his free time by playing video games and basketball with his friends.

Taylor Jordan

Taylor is a 10th grade student. Due to her struggles with math, she doesn’t have much of an interest in math-heavy sciences but loves subjects that she performs well in.

Math is a major bottleneck in her educational path; she's lost all her confidence in the subject over the years and never seems to do well even after spending hours and hours studying. Unfortunately, her growing resentment for the subject affects her attitude towards other math-related subjects as well (such as physics). Nevertheless, biology still sparks her interest; it doesn’t involve math, it plays off of her love for animals, and (most importantly) she's good at it.

She works part-time and often has to help take care of her younger siblings. In general, the pressure and time she puts into her family has always hindered her academic performance; for Taylor, school and education have never been top priorities.

Outside of her academic life, though, Taylor loves playing soccer. She's played on various teams since she was young, and loves the camaraderie of the varsity team at her high school; her passion for soccer stems from this value of collaboration and teamwork. She loves her dog, and in her spare time enjoys playing with him in the park or hanging out with her soccer friends at the mall.