Chatham High School alumnus Kim Ellis Hayes still recalls the date of the overnight school trip that launched her career in science.

“My mother, a single parent raising three daughters, often struggled to afford school excursions or anything beyond basic necessities,” Ms Ellis Hayes said.

“However, she instilled in me the belief that education equates to freedom for women.

“Her unwavering support enabled me to participate in one pivotal school trip that I really wanted to attend, a science excursion to Sydney University’s ‘Expanding Your Horizons in Mathematics and Science’ program on 17 August 1985 while I was in Year 10.”

This one-day event for high school students, featuring workshops on electron microscopy and radio astronomy, was the first step towards a remarkable career for the young woman from Langley Vale on the NSW mid north coast, who took two buses each morning to get to high school.

After gaining her HSC at Chatham High School in Taree in 1987, Ms Ellis Hayes pursued a career as a manufacturing and research industrial chemist working for BHP, Rio Tinto and the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation.

Now based in the United States, she has also qualified as a lawyer specialising in aerospace law and compliance for Australian space research projects in the US and Europe.

Ms Ellis Hayes currently serves as the Major Discipline Coordinator for Space Technology at Swinburne University and is CEO of US company, the Hayes Group.

Her love of space saw her complete training as a Scientist-Astronaut Candidate for the Polar Suborbital Science in the Upper Mesosphere research program, and she is continuing to train in commercial microgravity research.

Ms Ellis Hayes said a career highlight was creating a student-centred space research program and launching Australian tertiary students’ research to the International Space Station.

"Sometimes, I have to pinch myself to see if I am awake because the incredible journey my career in science, space, and law has taken me on is beyond anything I could have imagined,” Ms Ellis Hayes said.

“I am forever grateful to Chatham High School and its dedicated science teachers, who encouraged me to pursue my dreams.”