Former astronaut featured in film visits Carson High

It took courage, determination and multiple attempts for former astronaut and engineer José Hernández to be accepted into NASA.

But it only took a few heartwarming letters from Carson High students recently who were inquisitive about what his journey had been like to say yes to come to a visit in Northern Nevada.

“The kids wrote me letters and so that always melts my heart,” Hernández said when he came to give a presentation to a packed room in Carson High’s High Tech Center on Oct. 3. “And so once Carson City School District wrote to me and said, ‘Would you like to come and talk?’ can you say no?”

The district's Multilingual Learner Vision Team held an “Aim for the Stars” event featuring Hernández. His journey is featured in the film “A Million Miles Away.”

During his Carson High presentation, he spoke of growing up with a father who encouraged him to excel in academics, receiving his education at the University of the Pacific and University of California, Santa Barbara, overcoming multiple rejections once he began applying to NASA and to talk about what he said would become one of his proudest achievements: developing equipment for digital mammography at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California.

“I want to show (these kids) that my background is no different than theirs,” Hernández said. “And then I’m going to show them my recipe that my dad gave me, and so then they’re going to have a recipe (to success) so they can put that recipe to work.”

Jennifer Chandler, social studies teacher in Carson’s world languages department, said the school is always looking for opportunities to speak to students who live between cultures.

“One of our units is on space exploration and the contributions of Spain, and I was like, well, what if I paired that with Mexico? And this movie came out last November and I watched it, and I was really touched by how well it connects to Mexican culture,” Chandler said. “And so I showed it to my students toward the end of the year, and when we got to that part of our unit, my students were crying during the movie.”

One of her students, Vivianne Caneo, said she enjoyed watching the film about Hernández. She said she was grateful he was willing to take an opportunity to meet with students like herself.

“He was a person that brought connection between my tradition, like, my culture together, and he signified the culture and tradition, and he represented like us as Mexicans and Hispanics kind of flowed throughout the years and how we struggled and how we overcame them,” Caneo said.

Chandler said she asked her students why they related to the movie. Students responded that they felt it captured their daily struggles to perform academically and as second-generation Hispanic members living in the United States figuring out their identity through their music or life choices, she said. Their assignment to write Hernández a letter was to practice their writing skills in the classroom.

One of the families to attend the event came dressed in space gear ready to greet Hernández. Saira Martinez’s two children, Valeria and Roman, fifth and second graders at Empire Elementary School, were eager to take their photo, Saira said. They had seen the movie, “A Million Miles Away.”

“(Roman) is very interested in space, in those stars and who lives out there,” she said. “So we thought it would be a great experience.”

Dr. Tanya Scott, CCSD’s director of English learner and pre-kindergarten programming, said she was thrilled to have the opportunity to host someone of Hernandez’s caliber within the district.

“We were in need of a relatable source of inspiration, and I think this speaks to that, that it’s been such a big response from the community and we’re just so happy that we were able to share this night with them,” Scott said.

Trustee Lupe Ramirez, who helped to introduce the event and the board to the families during Hernandez’ appearance, said CCSD was “overdue” for a guest like him.

“He’s a bicultural astronaut who’s obviously made his way to the top, you know, and what message do you want that to send to the kids?” she said. “I want them to see him as a role model and to recognize that anything is possible. All they need to do is have a dream.”