00:00For many young people, space exploration may seem like something that happens far away.
00:06But for one young Trinidadian, the opportunity to get closer to that world is now becoming a reality.
00:13At just 19, Caitlin has been selected to participate in India's space program,
00:19an experience she hopes will take her curiosity about science to another level.
00:25It started off when I was in secondary school at Parity Girls in the college.
00:28It was during our career day then. I was in upper six.
00:32And I met our co-ambassador, Miss Laura.
00:35And during our little conversation we had, she pitched the idea of the program to me.
00:39And as someone who loves to learn new things and loves to explore different sides of the world,
00:45I actually recruited some of my friends, along with myself and my two younger sisters.
00:50We enrolled in the program.
00:52And then I would have continued it as I got acceptance at the medical school last year
00:56and completed the program earlier this year.
00:58The news of her selection came as a surprise and a moment, Caitlin says, she will never forget.
01:04Our ambassador called and she was like, did you check your email for the day?
01:07And I was like, no.
01:09She was like, please, you know, you can go check it.
01:11So I opened the last email I was sent and I'm like, congratulations, Caitlin,
01:15and you've been selected to represent Chandler and Tobago in Mission Shaktisa.
01:19And I forgot I was on the phone call, forgot everything that was going around me.
01:23And I was like, what? That's real?
01:24And now that the reality has sunk in, Caitlin says the achievement is a reminder that the hard work was
01:31worth it.
01:32But balancing academics, extracurricular activities and the program was not always easy.
01:38However, Caitlin says she was determined to make the opportunity work.
01:43The most challenging would have been a little bit balancing medical school and keep with doing the activities.
01:50But it wasn't really much of a challenge because I really only did the program when I had my free
01:54time.
01:55So it didn't really take away from university life.
01:57Laura Sipersad, co-ambassador to TNT, who helped facilitate the program's involvement in Trinidad and Tobago,
02:04says there are plans to bring the opportunity to even more young people.
02:09We are working with the Ministry of Education right now.
02:11We met with Melissa Dowellat recently, and we have intentions of bringing this particular curriculum into the schools.
02:18So we would like to offer students during this summer vacation here the opportunity,
02:22those who may have not heard about the program, not just the girls, but the boys as well,
02:26to have the opportunity to just take a chance and see what it's like and see if it's something you
02:29like,
02:29and eventually we can build this into our curriculum.
02:32Caitlin says she hopes her experience will encourage other young people to step outside their comfort zones
02:38and pursue opportunities that may seem out of reach.
02:41And as she looks toward the future, Caitlin says she hopes Trinidad and Tobago will be using advances in space
02:48technology
02:48to improve lives here at home, particularly in health care.
02:53For the near future, as I am a medical student and with space,
02:56I'd like to see and hope to see that TNT can move forward in improving our health care.
03:01So space and medicine actually have a lot of correlation that we might not see.
03:06So we can use it for disease surveillance, we can use it for telemedicine,
03:10we can use it for remote monitoring and disaster control, especially in our remote communities in Trinidad.
03:16So we can use it to monitor not only our medical equipment,
03:20but also the progresses and spreading of diseases like dengue and stuff.
03:24From the classroom to medical school and now a program taking her closer to space,
03:30Caitlin's journey is showing what can happen when young people are given the opportunity to explore beyond the boundaries they
03:37know.
03:37Charlotte Kisto, TV6 News.
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