Her mom, Tiffany Jones, inventor of the Real-Time Traffic Monitoring System, ensured that there was always a classroom in their home. At times, the classroom was even in the garage. It is fully equipped with several dry-erase boards, computers, maps, and a library. The classroom was where Winter discovered her love for combustion. In 2012, 9-year-old Winter elected to explore fire for her school’s science fair project. Some may find this disturbing, but her mother enabled her to use her passion for fire to create a viable research project examining the refractive characteristics of a paraffin wax candle flame.

This experience stayed with Winter, particularly when she learned in middle school that paraffin wax could serve as rocket fuel through a NASA children’s experiment entitled, “Candlestick Rocketship”. She spent years refining this paraffin-fueled rocket engine experiment. Her mom even let her stay home from school during the 2017 Great American Solar Eclipse to determine how the stages of the eclipse impacted the experiment. While working on this project, Winter learned the reality of research including the importance of organized record keeping, when to pivot, and how to balance schoolwork and research.

As a college student, Winter put her skills to the test with research experiences through Spelman College’s Innovation Lab, the Department of Defense Research Scholars Program, Georgia Institute of Technology’s Summer Undergraduate Research Experience (SURE) Program, and a NASA University Leader Initiative research project. Navigating these various experiences has not been easy, but Winter’s familial support keeps her motivated. Being the eldest of four, she helps her siblings succeed by sharing what she has learned with them. After Winter graduates from Spelman College, she aims to study aerospace engineering at Georgia Tech for graduate school before beginning her career as a rocket engineer.

Becoming an Astronaut Scholar has helped Winter navigate her future career. During Innovators Weekend, she learned about certification programs for high-power rocketry. At the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction, she connected with the Deputy Director of the Kennedy Space Center and a ConOps Flight Planning Engineer from Blue Origin, receiving invitations to exclusive tours at Blue Origin and the Kennedy Space Center, as well as a VIP viewing of the GOES-U satellite launch. These invaluable experiences provided Winter with profound insights into the possibilities available to an aerospace engineer. Ms. Jones is deeply grateful to the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation for building a community that supports her in reaching her full potential!

Winter’s scholarship is generously sponsored by the Amelia Earhart Festival in honor of Kathy Sullivan and Bernard Harris & the HBCU Astronaut Group