Watkins Mill High School students attended the Latinos in Space event hosted by the Hispanic Heritage Foundation, NASA, and the White House on September 30, 2024, to celebrate Latino contributions to space exploration.
The event kicked off at the White House with a keynote speech by retired astronaut and President and CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering, Jose Hernandez. He shared his inspiring story and discussed the movie “A Million Miles Away,” based on his life.
Junior Vivian Urbina said after watching the movie trailer, “Everything he told us about his experience and his life was lined up with the trailer too, so it was like seeing it in action.”
Attendees then participated in three panel discussions: “Voices from the Field,” which explored the space workforce; “Hacking a Career in Space,” which provided insights on turning passions into careers; and “Standing on the Shoulders of Giants,” where students listened to trailblazing astronauts. Students had the opportunity to ask the panelists questions.
Senior Stephen Mendieta stated, “Each of the astronauts had different qualities which were interesting, especially when we had the chance to ask them questions to them about their experiences.”
The second part of the event took place at the NASA headquarters, where students witnessed the signing of the Space Act Agreement. This agreement “aims to expand STEM opportunities for Latino K-12 and university students and reduce barriers to agency activities and opportunities,” as stated by NASA.
Junior Karla Torres stated, “This showed me that NASA worked with not only space but also climate change…I realized that I’m interested in [the environmental aspect] of NASA”
This event provided Watkins Mill students with insights into the significant contributions of Latinos to space exploration and the future of Latino involvement in the space industry.
Mendieta stated that the event, “was something crazy to be part of to be honest…I was in my home country five years ago, and now I’m in the White House.”
After this experience, Torres said, “Seeing Latinos in positions in the White House and NASA inspires me to dream big because you don’t usually see Latinos working in those spaces.”
