Brainerd native Turner Person earns Astronaut Scholar award

Turner Person, a 2022 Brainerd High School graduate now at North Dakota State University, earned one of the country’s top STEM scholarships, a recognition that can bring up to $15,000 in support and direct access to aerospace mentors, researchers and employers.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation named Person to its 2026 class on May 19. He is a senior at NDSU, where he is double majoring in mechanical engineering and physics with a minor in aerospace engineering. Person has also completed internships with NASA and private aerospace companies, experience that puts him in a small national group of undergraduates being prepared for high-level work in engineering and space-related fields.

The 2026 class includes 79 students from 54 colleges and universities across the United States. Beyond the money, the scholarship brings mentorship, professional networking and a technical conference where scholars can present their research. The foundation’s Innovators Symposium & Gala is scheduled for Aug. 13-15 in Houston, Texas, giving recipients a national venue to connect with scientists, engineers and recruiters.

For a Brainerd-area student moving through one of the Midwest’s leading engineering programs, the award is more than a line on a resume. It reflects a pipeline that begins in local schools, continues through demanding university training and then reaches into the country’s aerospace industry. Person’s path, from Brainerd High School to internships tied to NASA and private companies, shows how students from Minnesota can build careers that do not have to leave the region at the first step.

The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation was created in 1984 by the surviving Mercury 7 astronauts, including Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton. The organization says it has awarded more than $10 million to over 900 students since its founding, backing junior- and senior-year STEM students who show the kind of promise that can turn local academic success into national opportunity.

Person’s recognition also raises a practical question for Minnesota communities that want to keep top students connected to the state economy: whether schools, families and employers can build enough research, internship and job opportunities to hold onto that talent after graduation. With engineering, physics and aerospace still driving major hiring across the Upper Midwest, students like Person are the kind of homegrown graduates many communities say they want to recruit, support and retain.