September 5, 2008

Dryden Flight Research Center
P.O. Box 273
Edwards, California 93523
Phone 661-276-3449
FAX 661-276-3566

Alan Brown
NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
661-276-2665
alan.brown@nasa.gov 

RELEASE: 08-44

TEHACHAPI HIGH GRAD AWARDED NASA DRYDEN SCHOLARSHIP

Jill Pestana, a graduate of the Class of 2008 at Tehachapi High 
School, has been selected by the NASA Dryden Flight Research Center's 
Employee Exchange Council to receive the 2008 Harold W. Walker 
Memorial Scholarship award.

The $6,000 scholarship award will be disbursed in increments of $1,500 
per calendar year within a five-year period.

Pestana is the daughter of Mark and Karen Pestana of Tehachapi, who 
attended the presentation of the scholarship to their daughter in 
early August at NASA Dryden. Mark Pestana is a research pilot and 
project manager at the NASA field center on Edwards Air Force Base.

Pestana, who graduated second in her class of 342 at Tehachapi High 
School in June, will attend California State University, Long Beach 
this fall, majoring in physics. With a grade point average of 4.267, 
she was salutatorian of her high school graduating class. Among other 
interests, she lists music as one she will pursue while attending 
college.

NASA Dryden Employee Exchange Council scholarships are named for 
former Dryden employees, with honorees selected on a rotating basis. 
Walker, who retired from the center in 1979, served as aerodynamics 
branch chief and was associated with the X-15, XB-70, lifting bodies, 
supercritical wing and oblique wing projects.

Funds for the scholarships come from various Dryden Employee Exchange 
Council activities, including proceeds from vending machine sales, 
and from endowments left to the center.

PHOTO EDITORS: A high-resolution photo to support this release is 
available for downloading from the NASA Dryden web site at: 
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/dryden/news/newsphotos/index.html

	
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