Ellen Ochoa

Ellen Ochoa as the JSC director. (NASA JSC (https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/jsc2014e0))

Singer Bonnie Tyler expresses in her song "I'm Holding Out for a Hero," how a hero has "gotta be fast and he's gotta be strong." People, like Ms. Tyler, often hold the preconceived notion that heroes are superheroes, such as Batman or Superman, and possess the same superhuman qualities like strength and speed. Due to the misunderstood definition of what a real hero is, heroes do not seem to exist in today's society. Most people do not possess a hero or believe in the "on-screen" ones, simply because they are not able to identify one that meets their extremely high character trait standards. However, I believe that the true definition of a hero is someone who is passionate about advocating for a cause and resilient in doing so.

Ellen Ochoa: the first Hispanic female astronaut. (NASA (https://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/ochoa.pdf))

Real heroes, like Dr. Lauri Ellen Ochoa, are often overlooked in their community. Lauri Ellen Ochoa, nicknamed Ellen, was born May 10th to parents Joe and Rosanne Ochoa. She is the third child out of five, and grew up in San Diego. She graduated top-of-her-class at Grossmont High School, San Diego State University, and Stanford University. Dr. Ellen Ochoa is known primarily for being the first Hispanic woman in space, and recently, the first Hispanic female, and second female director of the Johnson Space Center. In April 1993, at the age of 35 years old, Dr. Ochoa completed her first space mission, and has continued to participate in numerous other missions. Following the end of her space flight career, she continued to educate students in the science field through her work with NASA. Dr. Ochoa excels in her field of work mainly because, like a true hero, she too is extremely passionate about and dedicated to her field of study. She cared deeply about minority representation in the space program and extending the benefits of the program to children all over the nation. A hero should not only be passionate but also resilient and able to take the hardships that come their way. Dr. Ochoa did not allow anything stand in her way to achieving her goals, she ignored the people who tried to drag her down and she did not let stereotypes define who she would become. As shown through her various accomplishments and achievements, astronaut Dr. Ellen Ochoa is a hero because of her unwavering passion and resilience.

Dr. Ellen Ochoa's passion for science and education alone validate her heroism. Prior to becoming an astronaut, some of her greatest accomplishments included: "developing optical filters for noise removal and optical methods for distortion-invariant object recognition. She was coauthor of two more patents based on her work at Sandia, one for an optical system for nonlinear median filtering of images and another for a distortion-invariant optical pattern recognition system" ("Ellen Ochoa." Encyclopedia). Her scientific research never stopped, and she constantly motivated herself to invent new technology to help further science research. Dr. Ellen Ochoa grew up understanding the importance of education, and as a goodwill ambassador for the U.S space program (Hasday, page 71), she too inspired and educated students. Dr. Ochoa shares that, " 'We're [goodwill ambassadors] very, very committed to the educational aspects of our job...You're in a position where students will listen to you. They are interested and excited about the subjects you're talking about' " (Hasday, page 71). Like a true hero, Dr. Ochoa is passionate about something and what makes her even more admirable is how she shares that passion with children all around the world. Through the multiple media science-support platforms Dr. Ochoa takes part in, she demonstrates just how passionate she is about education for young and innovative scientists and engineers. Dr. Ochoa's ongoing enthusiasm regarding science and education serves as an ideal example of how people should have a desire to follow their dreams and to share those dreams with the rest of the world.

While Dr. Ochoa may have achieved all of her many goals, it certainly was not a smooth path. While studying at San Diego State University, Dr. Ochoa had still not decided her major, but eventually, she chose to become a physics major, even though: "she had been discouraged from pursuing a course of study in the discipline by a male adviser as an undergraduate because it was 'difficult" (Hasday, page 46). Dr. Ochoa excelled in both math and science throughout her whole school career. But despite that, her male adviser didn't believe she could be successful because of her race and gender. Dr. Ochoa however, did not let that stop her from being the best she could be. She proved her adviser wrong and those who did not have faith in her, that she could and would succeed. Dr. Ochoa stood tall in what she believed and stayed strong when others tried to drag her down. Another experience that shaped Dr. Ochoa was when her father Joe, had left the family drastically. She shares in an interview " 'We never really saw him after that. He all of sudden changed and didn't want to be married and didn't want a family, and just wanted out and just left' "(Hasday, page 36). Dr. Ellen Ochoa faced adversity in her life, especially when her father divorced her mother and left the family without any contact whatsoever. She persevered through a challenging time in her life, and it proved to be the ultimate test of resiliency. Dr. Ellen Ochoa, is like so many people in the world - her path has not been easy, but she has not allowed anything to tear her down, which makes a her a true hero.

Ochoa addressing the need for education in STEM. (U.S News and World Report (NASA))

In summary, Dr. Ellen Ochoa's two main traits that brought her to where she is in life today are her passion and resiliency. She has chased her dreams and not let stereotypes or critics slow her down. She reminds young people to keep dreaming and that a passionate work ethic is vital to fulfilling those dreams. But most importantly Dr. Ochoa is a hero because she admits that there will be tough times, but in those moments, you must challenge yourself in order to achieve those dreams. As soon as we as a society stop looking for heroes that can fly or shapeshift, we will begin to uncover that our heroes are just ordinary people doing extraordinary things.

Works Cited        

"Ellen Ochoa." Encyclopedia of World Biography, 2nd ed., vol. 11, Gale, 2004, pp. 460-461.

Gale Virtual Reference Library,

go.galegroup.com/ps/i.do

p=GVRL&sw=w&u=powa9245&v=2.1&id=GALE%7CCX3404704820&it=r&asid=3158425c5bfcd9756de4ffb75083edfc.Accessed

1 May 2017.

Hasday, Judy L. Ellen Ochoa. New York, Chelsea House Publishers, 2007.