2020 AUI Scholarship Winners

Lexington Miller

Lexington is a senior at East River High School in Orlando, Florida, where she holds a 3.8 GPA. She will initially attend Valencia College, then transfer to the University of Florida, where she plans to major in Psychology. Her choice of major is the result of a high school career consisting of concentrated study and of serving others in the community. Lexington has regularly volunteered at an elementary school composed mostly of at-risk children from low- income homes. A member of her church youth group, Lexington also volunteered her time at the Community Food Pantry, collating and distributing food to those in need of assistance. In addition to this, she has completed ten college-level courses, earning thirty credits toward her intended degree. Because of this, Lexington will enter college as a sophomore upon graduation from high school.

Lexington is the daughter of Wes and Renda Miller. Wes is an MIS Administrator IV, working out of the Green Bank Observatory office since 2011.

Charity Warder

Charity is a senior at Pocahontas County High School in Dunmore, WV, where she is ranked 1st of 69. She will attend WV Wesleyan College in the fall with a major in Masters in the Science of Nursing.

Throughout high school, Charity played basketball, softball and was a member of the PCHS track team as a thrower of discus and shotput. She was a member of the FFA, FCA, RAZE, SADD, Upward Bound and the National Honor Society. Through the NHS she has enjoyed reading to the 1st grade class at Green Bank Elementary School and has participated in several community activities with her New Hope Church family. Last summer she worked as a lifeguard at the GBO pool.

Charity is the daughter of Joseph and Tonya Warder. Tonya is the Manager of the Starlight Cafe in the Green Bank Science Center.

Daniel Castro

Daniel Castro is a senior at Albemarle High School, in Charlottesville, Virginia. He currently holds a 3.9 GPA, while taking an aggressive class load of AP and dual enrollment
classes. Daniel earned the rank of Eagle Scout in Scouts BSA and was an active member of his troop until he turned 18. He served as Senior Patrol leader and his Eagle project benefited Ivy Creek Nature Area where he built a display for a piece of antique farm machinery. Daniel has practiced Taekwondo for many years, where he has achieved the rank of Red Belt, 2nd class. Last season, Daniel joined the indoor track team at Albemarle High School. Daniel is also an active member of a church youth group, attends a religious studies class before school every morning and is considering serving a 2 year proselytizing/service mission for the church. Daniel works part time, running the Putt-putt golf course in town and has been mowing lawns to earn money since he was 12.

Daniel has taken an interest in Geospatial Technology and is currently planning to study this field in college. Daniel is the son of Jason Castro. Jason has worked at

NRAO in Charlottesville since 2005 and is an Electronics Engineer at the Central Development Lab.

Lilliah Rachel Hanrahan

Rachael is a senior at Albemarle High School in Charlottesville, Virginia. She is graduating with a 3.5 GPA, along with an advanced diploma. Rachael will be going to either Virginia Tech or James Madison University in the fall. She has played volleyball throughout high school on a travel team and with the school team. She has been involved in three school clubs, and volunteers for cancer fundraisers annually. Rachael has also coached middle school volleyball for two years. She works part-time at a local dog kennel, and has held a summer internship at the NRAO Library. Rachael is planning to major in Pre-Med or Religious Studies.

Rachael is the daughter of Ann Kite and Anand Crossley. Anand is the NRAO Observatory Metrics Analyst for the Scientific Support and Research Department and has been with the NRAO since 2007.

Desirae Zamora

Desirae is a senior at Magdalena High School. She is a member of student council, the President and Salutatorian of her Graduating Class and also a member of National Honors Society. She has taken many dual credit courses since her junior year and has even taken her CNA courses through Western New Mexico University. Throughout High School she has participated in Community Services Such as Blood Drives, “Maze of Life” walkthrough for Junior High Students and Collected Donations for the “Pennies for Patients” foundation. Desirae has also been a member of the Letterman’s club for 5 years while participating in Varsity Volleyball and Varsity Track. She has been a part of the District Champion Team for 4 years and was the Captain of the Volleyball team for the 2019-2020 Season as well as an All- District Player and was awarded All-Tourney during the Annual Magdalena Volleyball Tournament. She has been District Champion for 4 years in track for both team and shotput and was also the 2019 2A State Champion for shotput and is striving to be the 2020 State Champion for shotput as well. Desirae maintained a job working at a Restaurant in Socorro for a year and was also involved in a local boxing club from 2017-2018.

After graduation, Desirae will be attending Dona Ana Community College in Las Cruces, New Mexico to pursue her career in nursing, with further aspirations of achieving her medical degree through New Mexico State University. Desirae is the Daughter of Adrian and Diane Zamora. Adrian has been an employee of the NRAO since 2001 and is the Antenna Mechanic as well as the Welder on the NRAO site outside of Magdalena.

Tristan Marson

Tristan Marson is a senior at Valley High School in Albuquerque NM.

Mathematics is his passion, with a particular focus on probability, the paradoxes associated with infinity and number theory problems that are easy to state and hard to prove e.g., Fermat’s Last Theorem. The AP calculus course he is currently doing is the best thing he has done in High School.

Tristan’s other interests include Philosophy and its associations with Religion and Politics. He is particularly looking forward to voting for the first time later this year; an honour he will be sharing with his father, a new US citizen.

Tristan plans to study Mathematics at a University in Albuquerque. Tristan is the son of Amy Mioduszewki (Scientist) and Ralph Marson (Software Engineer). Both parents are based in Socorro and have been at NRAO for over 20 years.

Kyle Julian

Kyle Julian is a senior at Magdalena High School. During his high school career, he served on the Student Council, was Captain for both Varsity Basketball and Baseball teams and received an Academic Letter Award from the Board of Education for maintaining a 90% Cumulative grade point average his Junior year.

Kyle enjoys fishing, spending time with his friends and family and mentoring the youth. During his senior year he participated in Service Learning where he was able to work directly with primary students in their classrooms. Kyle also held an NMAA Official Membership and served as a referee for Junior High basketball games.

Kyle will be attending Northern New Mexico College where he plans to pursue a degree in education as well as participate in basketball at the collegiate level. Kyle’s goals are to someday give back to the programs that had such a positive impact on his life.

Kyle’s step-father, Anthony Herschbach, is a member of the Track Crew at the VLA. Tony has been an NRAO staff member since 2008.

Lazarus Sanchez

Lazarus is a senior at Magdalena High School in Magdalena, NM, where he holds a 3.6 GPA and is a member of the National Honor Society. Since sophomore year he has attended dual-credit college courses online and at New Mexico Tech. He played baseball for three seasons, worked at the Magdalena school full-time for the past four summers, participated in two school-sponsored storm- chasing trips, and tutors younger students after school. Most recently, Lazarus helped get Magdalena’s Teen Science Café up and running, and he helps with the Kids’ Science Café when available. He has also participated in two summer youth mission trips and numerous local mission-related activities. He has hunted and fished with his father for many years, and in his spare time he plays guitar and sings blues, classic rock, and old-school country (Johnny Cash is his main inspiration).

Lazarus will attend the University of New Mexico this fall as part of the UNM Honors College, and he plans to study Environmental Science and Engineering. Lazarus is the son of Anne Lear, a Documentation Specialist at NRAO-Socorro since Sept. 2018, and stepson of Wes Grammer, a Senior Engineer at NRAO-Socorro who has been with NRAO for over 25 years. His father is Antonio Sanchez of Magdalena, NM.

Angeline de Guia

Angeline is a senior at Alpine High School in Alpine, Texas, where she is ranked number one out of 70 in the class of 2020. Angeline is a member and the treasurer of the National Honor Society (NHS). Since her junior year, Angeline has taken AP and dual credit courses and will have 24 college credit hours upon graduating high school.

Throughout high school, Angeline played tennis and participated in the Anchor Club, General Federation of Women’s Club as the 2017 Alpine Juniorettes treasurer, 4-H as the 2017 Brewster County Twin Peaks Reporter, and AHS Color guard as the co- captain her sophomore year and the captain her junior and senior year. During her sophomore year, Angeline also participated in the AHS Mock Trial team as one of the attorneys, and her team qualified for the state contest. During ninth and eleventh grade, Angeline also competed in the Texas History Day regional contest, winning first place and second place respectively in the senior documentary division; she also competed in the Texas History Day state contest for both years. Throughout her high school career, she’s participated in the University Interscholastic League, competing in Mathematics, Number Sense, Spelling and Vocabulary, and Calculator Applications; for the district contest, Angeline often placed top places for her events, enabling her participation in the regionals competition. She has also participated in the Texas Math and Science Coaches Association State Meet. As her way of giving back to the community, Angeline has volunteered at the local food bank, local library, church congregation and elementary school. Since her junior year, Angeline has been invited to sing for several school functions such as Veterans’ Day and Alpine Stock Show. During the summer of her senior year, Angeline attended American Legion Auxiliary Girl’s State at Texas Lutheran University in Seguin, TX.

Angeline plans to attend The University of Texas at Austin beginning in the fall of 2020 and dual major in Biochemistry and Plan II Honors in the College of Liberal Arts. Angeline is the daughter of Juan and Emily De Guia. Juan has worked at NRAO in Fort Davis since 2017 and is currently the VLBA Radio Telescope Station Manager.