Karl Clapp, a 2006 Honors graduate of Cedarcrest High School, left June 18 to begin a 9-week summer internship with NASA at Jet Propulsion Laboratories in California.

Karl is the son of Chad and Wendy Clapp of Duvall. He was accepted into the internship program through the College of Engineering at the University of Washington, where he will be a freshman in the fall.

He was encouraged to apply for the highly competitive internship program that offers summer positions at several local companies. There were only 40 freshmen chosen to participate in the program, and Karl is one of only four participants selected for the internship with NASA.

Karl is spending nine weeks in residence on campus at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. His internship experience includes options to work with the Saturn Cassini Trip, the Mars Rover Simulations and Star, Galaxy and Universal Research.

He is currently working in the Space Flight Operations Facility for the systems management and operations science planning team for the Cassini-Huygens satellite mission.

“His job right now is to update their Web site,” said Wendy. “The scientists type in commands to the satellite and he translates that to language everyone can understand.”

The interns receive a salary to help them offset the costs of their education. The daily schedule includes a workday at Jet Propulsion Laboratories from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., then they return to the Cal-Tech campus for two hours of calculus instruction and study time to better prepare them for college math.

Karl’s passion in science and math was pursued through honors and AP classes while attending Cedarcrest. Karl is a member of the National Honor Society and the Honor Roll, and has received the Outstanding Academic Achievement Award and the WASL Certificate of Excellence. Karl also participated in DECA and the Random Acts of Kindness clubs, and played soccer for Cedarcrest. He also spent time tutoring students in math and science.

Karl ran a small personal computer business, worked a full-time construction job in the summer and a part-time job at Subway during the school year. His hobbies include skiing, snowboarding and surfing.

“I’ve always wanted to contribute to cancer research, paralysis recovery and the quest for scientific unification of quantum mechanics and general relativity,” says Karl. “Science has always fascinated me because it explains how everything in life happens, and there is always something new to pursue.”