DARE TO DREAM BIG!: From Serious Student to First Female Hispanic Astronaut

Imagine This: In high school, other students put you down because you like science and your teachers try to dissuade you from taking the “hard math and science classes.” Some of your teachers even tell you that you won’t go far in the field of science. So what do you do? Do you still take those classes?

 You’re born in 1958 in Los Angeles, California, one of five children. You’re half Mexican and proud of your Hispanic heritage. Your grandparents are born in Mexico but move to the United States to raise their family because they want their children to have as many educational advantages and opportunities as possible.

 Your mother is a firm believer in the value of education and teaches all five of you to work hard and get a good education, so that you can be anything you want to be. She also practices what she preaches. She takes college classes for twenty-three years and eventually earns her degree, taking one class at a time. She passes her enthusiasm for education on to all five of you.

 You love school and aren’t afraid to work hard. Your favorite subjects are math and music, but you do well in all your classes. You also love to read and one of your favorite books is A Wrinkle in Time because it’s a story about a young girl who travels through time.

 Even though your father leaves the family when you’re in junior high, you mother still encourages you all to work hard in school and to set high goals for yourselves. You learn to play the flute and music is a common bond between you and your brothers and sister. You become such an accomplished musician that you play with the Civic Youth Orchestra in San Diego while in high school. You even think that one day you might have a career as a classical flutist.

 You continue to work hard and graduate as the valedictorian of your high school class in 1975. Even though girls aren’t encouraged to major in math and science in college, your high school calculus teacher makes math so appealing and so exciting that you decide to continue studying it in college.

 At San Diego State University, you change your major five times before finally choosing physics (music, business administration, journalism, computer science, then physics). Physics proves to be a good choice and once again you’re the valedictorian of your graduating class. You go on to earn your master of science degree and doctorate in electrical engineering at Stanford University.

 While in graduate school, some of your friends apply to be astronauts at NASA (the National Aeronautics and Space Administration). The astronaut program is now open to women as well as men and you decide to apply as soon as you finish your degree. After earning your degree, you’re hired by NASA as a researcher and in 1990 you survive the selection process with 2000 applicants to become an astronaut.

 After a year of intensive training, you become the first female Hispanic astronaut in July 1991. In April 1993 you’re the only woman on a crew of five astronauts aboard the shuttle Discovery when it is launched into space. And you make history as the first Hispanic woman astronaut ever to travel in outer space.

 Since then, you completed three more missions and continued to work for NASA on robotics and space station research and development.You have worked hard all your life and are an extraordinary role model for all of us!

                                             “Don’t be afraid to reach for the stars.”

                                                         Ellen Ochoa (1958-    )

 Excerpted from Dare to Dream!: 25 Extraordinary Lives by Sandra McLeod Humphrey

 For More about

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G40G1q1I7u8

 Giving Back: Ellen Ochoa is a mentor and helps young girls pursue their dreams no matter what they are.

Did You Know  that Ellen Ochoa is also an inventor and has three patents in the area of optical processing?           

 Something to Think about: Why do you think a good education was so important to Ellen’s mother?

Willoughby and I hope you enjoyed this week’s true story and will be back next week for another story to inspire you to DARE TO DREAM BIG!