Earlier this month, Dr. Ellen Ochoa, a decorated astronaut, researcher, and NASA leader, visited her middle school alma mater in La Mesa as a mural was dedicated in her honor.
The student band and choir at Parkway Sports & Health Science Academy performed, and Dr. Ochoa took time to share her story and journey with the students and staff assembled.
She recounted the skepticism and barriers posed by professors as she studied engineering at a time when women were rare in the field. More accepting were her fellow astronauts who were focused on her skills and abilities as a fellow crew member.
Citing her mother and astronaut Sally Ride as inspirations, Dr. Ochoa encouraged students to pursue their passions and develop resiliency and perseverance. Students found inspiration in the story of someone who attended the very same school and who broke barriers on the way to making her own history.
They also asked many questions about the experiences of astronauts, including whether she liked space travel (“I loved pretty much everything about being an astronaut”), what weightlessness feels like (something akin to scuba diving), and what Earth looks like from space (“Amazing. Vivid. Hard to portray in photographs.”).
Jacob Ruth, principal of Parkway Academy, told the assembled audience that he hoped the mural would tell students, “You can be anything that you want to be, that you can come from the community of La Mesa and you can persevere and learn and succeed and do amazing things in your life.”
Dr. Ochoa, the 11th director of the Johnson Space Center, joined NASA in 1988 as a research engineer and moved to Johnson Space Center in 1990 when she was selected as an astronaut. She became the first Hispanic woman to go to space when she served on the nine-day STS-56 mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1993. She has flown in space four times, logging nearly 1,000 hours in orbit. She is a co-inventor on three patents and the author of several technical papers.
Dr. Ochoa graduated from Parkway Middle School in 1971, eventually attending San Diego State University where she earned her bachelor’s degree in physics. She earned a master’s and Ph.D. from Stanford University.
Editor’s note: This information was provided by Dave Palmer of dunktankmarketing.com.
Photo credits: La Mesa-Spring Valley School District
