Jose Hernandez poses with his back to a crowd of students in the SBVC Auditorium

Left to right: Maria del Carmen Rodriguez, Dean Marco Cota, Aida Gil, José Hernández, Dr. Linda Fontanilla

Left to right: Maria del Carmen Rodriguez, Dean Marco Cota, Aida Gil, José Hernández, Dr. Linda Fontanilla


As part of its celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, San Bernardino Valley College hosted Hasta La Raiz: Rooted in Excellence, featuring Mexican-American astronaut and engineer José Hernández, on October 12 at the SBVC Auditorium.

 

The auditorium was packed for the event, with some attendees standing to hear Hernández speak. SBVC students from the physics, chemistry, aeronautics, and STEM/MESA programs were in attendance along with SBVC faculty and staff members. Over 400 local students and school district parents attended from Clement Middle School, Vista Del Lago High School, Grand Terrace High School, Bloomington High School, and Colton High School.

 

The event was an opportunity to motivate students to reach for the stars, both figuratively and literally, by highlighting Hernández’s improbable career journey. Growing up in a family of migrant farmworkers, it was difficult for Hernández to imagine that he could end up someday working on a NASA space mission. But career opportunities materialized after his college education. His introduction to space exploration began in 2001 as a materials research engineer at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. Hernández was then selected by NASA in 2004 to become an astronaut, setting him up for the significant milestone of serving as a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle's STS-128 mission in 2009.

 


Hernández's accomplishments continue beyond his time with NASA. After leaving the agency, he served as the Executive Director of Strategic Operations at MEI Technologies in Texas and ran for the U.S. House of Representatives in 2012. Currently, as the CEO of Tierra Luna Engineering, LLC, he continues to contribute to the fields of engineering and space exploration.