Reporter
The inspirational story of a transformation from a young man working the fields to becoming a part of the 19th class of NASA astronauts was shared by Jose M. Hernandez in the Dore Theatre at CSU Bakersfield on Friday, Sept. 28.
While he expressed that reaching this goal was not easy, he assured his audience that “it is okay to dream big as long as you are willing to work hard for it.”
Hernandez spoke of his experience of moving around as a young child. He told the story of his elementary school teacher who had a strong impact on his family when she finally convinced his father to take his children’s education more seriously.
This opened his father’s eyes to the fact that keeping his children in the same place for a longer period of time could have a positive effect on their education. After this, his family stayed in Stockton, California. for many years where Hernandez excelled in school and later graduated college.
He first realized he wanted to be an astronaut while watching the last Apollo mission in his childhood living room. He shared this dream with his father and his father instructed him that in order to reach this goal, he would have to “focus hard on his studies and always deliver more than people ask for.”
Hernandez said this advice is what kept him reaching for his goal to become an astronaut even after getting rejected eleven times.
On the day of the event, the Dore Theatre was practically full. There was a line of students waiting patiently for Hernandez an hour before the doors of the Dore Theatre even opened.
Chief of Diversity Officer, Claudia Catota said, “the event got a lot of response from students, especially those from the Antelope Valley campus.”
Due to the strong interest that the students showed, this event was also live streamed. This allowed students who were not able to attend to watch the astronaut tell his story from their very own home.
Many CSUB students arrived to this event early and showed the greeters at the entrance their student IDs. This allowed the students to receive a free program expressing what the event would entail, along with a picture of Hernandez that they could later get signed by the astronaut himself.
Honors student, Abigail Klein said she attended this event because “it is interesting how people from all over the world are able to elevate their status in the United States.”
This speech from Hernandez was not strictly limited to CSUB students. Parents, news stations, and CSUB faculty members also attended this event. High school students from Mira Monte, Foothill, and McFarland High Schools also attended this event along with the Young Women Leaders from Buttonwillow.
This inspiring talk from Hernandez had a strong effect on the people who attended because he emphasized to them that “you have to believe that anything is possible in life.”
After the event ended, students, faculty and parents stayed to talk with Hernandez. Some were even able to get the picture they received autographed by the speaker.
