As a child, sophomore Genesis Robles dreamed of being a neurosurgeon, but her future seemed to say otherwise. Robles is interested in pursuing in the field of astronomy.

“Believe me there’s an infinite amount of things that I find interesting in astronomy, it’s not just one…there can’t be. There are endless amounts of theories as well, which no matter how silly they may sound the possibility of them being true is there,” Robles said. “The universe is expanding into something that we don’t know so as far as we know every scenario could be happening.”

Robles did her research one when day and came upon the statistic of how many women, specifically Hispanics, participate in this field. This result in this inspired her toward this career idea.

“I don’t think it was someone who inspired me, rather the fact that there is already a minority of women in the profession, and when I first saw the numbers it was unbelievably low,” Robles said. “The fact that I’m Hispanic as well I mean you just don’t see that in the profession.”

Robles’ current schedule does not reflect on her interests, but she hopes to take a mentorship, to give her  insight of the environment she will be working in.

“As a junior I want to take a mentorship over at [the] JMU planetarium as a start. Later on, I want to go to the University of California, Berkeley or the University of Maryland,” Robles said.

Robles is aware of the disabilities that this career has, such as the length of study, but feels confident because of her participation in On the Road Collaborative.

“It is helping significantly due to the fact that it’s exposing me to different colleges,” Robles said. “I also am getting a feel of what campus life is like so I have an idea of what’s just right for me when it comes to college.”