2026 Students of Distinction

Autumn Coovert: Looking to the stars

Gig Harbor Now is posting profiles featuring the Students of Distinction being honored by the Greater Gig Harbor Foundation. Peers, teachers or parents nominate students, who must be a graduating senior at a Peninsula School District school. A panel of community leaders selects students to be honored in one of seven categories: academics; athletics; career and technical excellence; community service; music, arts and drama; overcoming adversity; and science and technology.

These students will be celebrated during a banquet from 6 to 9 p.m. Wednesday, May 20, at Ocean5, 5268 Pt. Fosdick Dr.

School: Gig Harbor High School

Category: Science and technology

For Autumn Coovert, curiosity has always pointed upward. From childhood nights spent watching the International Space Station cross the sky with her mother to leading a hypothetical Mars mission through the Washington Aerospace Scholars program, the Gig Harbor High School senior has long been fascinated by the possibilities of space exploration and engineering.

“I’ve always loved science, math, and problem solving,” Autumn says. “Space just felt magical to me from the very beginning.”

Autumn Coovert

That passion has driven Autumn through some of the school’s most rigorous STEM coursework, including AP Environmental Science, AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP Physics, AP Computer Science A, and UW Calculus. But her interests extend well beyond the classroom.

During the highly selective Washington Aerospace Scholars program, Autumn earned college credit through the University of Washington before being selected for an advanced residency experience at the Museum of Flight. There, she served as Systems Manager for her team’s Mars mission project — leading presentations, coordinating engineering tasks, and collaborating with peers and aerospace professionals.

“That was one of the moments where I truly felt in my element,” she says.

At the same time, Autumn built an equally impressive resume in Speech and Debate, becoming a four-time national qualifier and one of the top-ranked Lincoln-Douglas debaters in the country. As president of Gig Harbor’s Speech and Debate team, she spent much of her senior year mentoring younger students and helping them grow both competitively and personally.

“It’s important to me that younger students have the same opportunities I did,” she says.

Autumn credits much of her debate success to the close partnership she shares with her father, who also serves as the team’s coach. One of her proudest accomplishments was placing 28th nationally at the NSDA National Tournament — an achievement she says felt especially meaningful because they experienced it together.

This fall, Autumn will attend California Polytechnic State University to study aerospace engineering with hopes of eventually working in astronautics for organizations like NASA or Rocket Lab.

For Autumn, science is ultimately about possibility — the chance to solve problems, push boundaries, and continue exploring the unknown.