There’s no doubt that Madeline Sprinz is a star, and one day she plans to help the rest of humanity explore them.

The Rampart High School senior’s whip-smart intellect and can-do attitude are propelling her to follow her passion for aerospace engineering this fall at Colorado School of Mines in Golden.

Her first exposure to aviation came when she was 4 years old at the Colorado Springs Airport, where her grandpa, a retired pilot, brought her along to an airplane sale.

“That day at the airport sparked a lifelong journey,” Sprinz wrote in her Best and Brightest essay. “I devoured every airplane and space book I could find. I’d spend hours outside at night, peering through my telescope or borrowing my dad’s phone to use the star-mapping app.”

That was only the beginning of her research endeavors.

As a sophomore, Sprinz attended SolidWorks, an engineering camp at her soon-to-be college. Later, she crafted a fully functional jet engine model using more than 300 3D-printed parts. Beyond her academic studies, where she earned Dean’s List status, she was honored with the Society of Women Engineers Certificate of Merit in Science and Mathematics.

That’s all proof of Sprinz’s genuine desire to learn, something one of her student council advisors, Jordyn Wieland, finds emblematic of Sprinz.

“She frequently shares insights from her Calculus classes at UCCS, her independent study in organic chemistry, or her engineering projects,” Wieland wrote.

But Sprinz’s achievements aren’t just to amass knowledge and skills for herself. Instead, she utilizes them in the various teaching roles she’s assumed to give back to her community.

Whether teaching 11- and 12-year-olds the fundamentals of volleyball or tutoring students in math or mentoring younger high schoolers in student council, being a helping hand comes naturally to Sprinz.

“That’s why mentorship is so important to me,” she said. “Because I have so many people I can trust, I want to be that for other people.”

Among the people Sprinz trusts are her parents, her student council advisors, her friends and her closest buddy Abby — her older sister.

“We’ve been so close since I was born,” Sprinz said of her sister. “She’s amazing.”

Some might also use that word to describe Sprinz — especially when it comes to her work with the student council, where she manages marketing, social media and student concessions as well as serving as prom chair and homecoming co-chair and helping gather thousands of dollars in corporate donations for the school’s annual “Bald 4 Bucks” fundraiser. During the keystone event at Rampart, students shave their heads to raise money for Blood Cancer United, a nonprofit that funds blood cancer research.

This year’s event carried heightened meaning for Sprinz after her friend Cora, who was to be honored at the event, succumbed to leukemia after a long fight.

“I want to be someone who shows up, who acts instead of wishing I had done more, and who turns compassion into commitment,” Sprinz wrote. “This is how I am choosing to find something positive in Cora’s death. I cannot change what happened, but I can help ensure that her fight, and the fight of so many others, continues to be supported.”