Lainey Drake Brooke Owens Headshot.jpg

Lainey Drake

  • Brooke Owens Fellow, Class of 2020

  • Wake Forest University, Physics and Theatre, ‘22

  • Host Institution: Virgin Galactic

  • Mentor: Sirisha Bandla

Lainey Drake is a sophomore at Wake Forest University passionately pursuing her multi-faceted love for the theoretical and imaginary as a double major in Physics and Theatre. As a child, Lainey dreamed of being an astronaut. Her training was conducted in the backyard every day after school with her four brothers where they would first spin themselves silly on a rope swing before taking a flying leap and racing through their self-constructed obstacle course. Points were awarded based on clean execution and time but deducted for each stumble.

Her fascination with space was cultivated in school when Lainey was given the opportunity to study at the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, a selective residential high school for innovators and leaders in technology and engineering. There she was introduced to a comprehensive and rigorous STEM education taking her first courses in general and electrical engineering, computer science, and physics. She was innately drawn to physics for its ever-expanding answer to the complex inner workings of the universe.

In addition to her physics studies, Lainey was awarded the Presidential Scholarship for Distinguished Achievement in Performance Theatre at Wake Forest University. She majors in Theatre and performs in one play a semester as a requirement of her scholarship. During her time at Wake, she performed as #7 in The Wolves and L’il Bit in How I Learned to Drive. Lainey also works as a Master Electrician implementing the vision of the Theater Lighting Designer through the rigging, programming, and focusing of the theatrical lights for productions including Tartuffe, Ever in the Glades, and Into The Woods. She is grateful for the opportunity to cultivate both her creative and analytical mind at Wake Forest University.

As a Brooke Owens Fellow, Lainey will spend the summer as an engineering intern with Virgin Galactic in Las Cruces, New Mexico as they pioneer commercial space travel. Virgin Galactic aims to become the “Spaceline for Earth” opening space to people like Lainey who have dreamed of being astronauts since childhood.

In the future, Lainey plans to further her studies with a master’s degree in engineering and a career in aerospace.