From mission control to the classrooms at Pierce Former NASA rocket scientist seeks to bridge the gap between students and mathematics

she struggled with the subject in previous classes, Metzger has become comfortable with math. She believes it is LePoint who has helped bring about this change.

The air of the control room is frantic as the minutes countdown to launch. What was once a light hum of chatter has evolved into a loud staccato of communication.

The goliath engines of the space orbiter Columbia ignite, canvassing the tarmac with sparks. As the shuttle rises from the plumes of white smoke, the tension dissipates.

It isn’t until Columbia reaches the outermost layer of the atmosphere and enters orbit that the team can relax.

For Olympia LePoint, an adjunct math professor at Pierce College, this was just another day at work.

“I actually got to relax and watch the Columbia launch,” LePoint chuckled. “It was amazing because I had never seen a shuttle launch up close before that. It took my breath away.”

Space and the “language of mathematics” lies at the core of LePoint.

At 21, LePoint began her career with The Boeing Company through whom she served as a rocket scientist for NASA. From 1998 to 2007 LePoint assisted in 28 shuttle launches and helped design and build new experimental rockets.

Despite the growing list of achievements LePoint remains humbled. Her primary source of inspiration and strength is her mother.

“My mother saw the importance of education,” LePoint said. “She wasn’t educated so she would always push me toward academic environments.”

With her father “out of the picture” LePoint’s mother was left to raise four daughters. Though she was unable to teach or mentor LePoint at home, LePoint’s mother encouraged her children to surround themselves with scholarly individuals.

“I made friends with my friends’ parents and they showed me how to do things like fill out a college application,” LePoint laughed.

As an alumna of the California State University of Northridge, LePoint can relate to the hectic and stressful lives of her students. Dividing herself between a full load of courses at CSUN and her work at Boeing LePoint has adapted to chaos.

“One of the things I still need to learn is to sit still,” LePoint said. “It’s hard as a scientist because you want to have control.”

More so than the unpredictability of college life, LePoint is aware of the pressure