MIT provides softball, aerospace engineering for Rosenzweig

July 23, 2016

Sierra Rosenzweig softball

Sierra Rosenzweig

She finished at the top of her class and hit at the top of the lineup for her high school softball team, so it makes sense Sierra Rosenzweig of Anchorage would wind up going to a top notch college.

The all-conference middle infielder and East High valedictorian will attend the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, one of the world’s greatest universities specializing in applied science and engineering.

She wants to be an aerospace engineer and design rockets and airplanes for the likes of Space X and NASA.

“I feel like a lot of people have a dream of being an astronaut as a little kid and then they realize it’s not realistic because it’s really difficult, and I have this opportunity and it can actually happen for me,” Rosenzweig told me.

“I feel like one of the big perks to going there is that you have that stamp on your diploma that says ‘MIT’ and I feel like you could show that to any employer and they would hire you. You could get a job anywhere in the world. That was a big motivation for me.”

The 18-year-old has signed her letter of intent to play softball for MIT, which finished 34-14 overall and finished second in the NCAA D3 New England Women’s and Men’s Athletic Conference.

At East, Rosenzweig was part of an East dynasty that included three state championships and an Alaska record 93-game winning streak.

“She’s a great student but her softball helped to get her in,” East coach Paul Schoenborn told me. “She played second and led off for me all four years. This year she had to move over to short but still hit leadoff. She also hit more home runs this year than anyone expected.”

Rosenzweig said school and softball goes hand in hand.

“I can’t do school without sports. The more I exercise I better I do in school so I figured I’d better play as long as I can. It’s a good balance,” she said. “I definitely focus better on what I do best, math and science, while exercise. It’s good to take a break from sports and do other things like school.”

She graduated high school with a 4.35 GPA.

School came easy, softball did not.

“It took a lot of work,” Rosenzweig said. “I think I am just as critical in softball because it’s a sport you have to focus on. You can’t really slack off.”