When Andressa Ojeda was a student at Masuk High School, she got some funny looks from people when she said she wanted to be an astronaut.

The 20-year-old is now going into her third year at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

Several astronauts have graduated from the school.

"Just being in micro gravity, just floating around... That was super cool," Ojeda said.

Ojeda wants to become Brazil's first female astronaut. She says she has always been fascinated by the universe.

"When I was 11 years old, I was reading books on like, quantum mechanics and things like that and getting like, really into it because I really wanted to understand more about the universe. I wanted to understand how things work," she said.

David Wolfe, with the Monroe Rotary Club, helps place foreign exchange students in Monroe. He says he saw something special in her.

"Not only did she have a goal, she had a road map to get there. And she's been sticking to it," Wolfe said.

Ojeda says she enjoyed her time in Monroe, and she's glad she never took no for an answer.

Nowadays, Ojeda says she's exchanging emails with Elon Musk. If she does get to go into space, she really wants to go to Mars.

Rotary International says its foreign exchange program is currently on hold because of COVID-19.