Pinay teacher in US named aerospace teacher of the year
A Filipina teacher in Texas in the United States — Shella Condino — was recently named as the country's Aerospace teacher of the year.
According to a report of CBS News, Condino has been residing in Presidio located in the middle of the Texas desert near the border of Mexico.
Presidio is the 3rd poorest town in the state of Texas with an average household income of $18,000.
Presidio is the 3rd poorest town in the state of Texas with an average household income of $18,000.
In one of her speeches, she said Presidio is a rural border town with a population about 4,000, with only one grocery store, one American fast food, and with the highest heat index in the state.
“There is literally nothing in Presidio... and nothing to do at all,” Condino said.
Apparently, not until she came. The Texas dessert seems to have just found an oasis with Condino sharing her skills.
For Condino, reaching for the stars is not an impossible dream.
In Presidio, she started a rocketry club five years ago where she taught rocket science to various students usually from the seventh to 10th grade amidst the language barrier and the nature of the field itself.
"I wanted to teach the kids: You want something so bad, you put your heart into it," she said in the report.
She is a motivating force, the report said. Her students would wake up before sunrise to learn rocket launch.
With this attitude, she was awarded the Aerospace teacher of the year which was by no means a surprise to her students who were first-hand witnesses to her passion for teaching.
"She'll teach you things and you'll learn it like this," said seventh-grader Hector Montemayor, "as long as you pay attention, of course."
"In rocketry, you don't have instructions on how to build it," said tenth-grader Marla Baltazar. "And that's how life is. It doesn't come with instructions, you have to make it on your own."
Conido’s students are set to compete in the Team America Rocketry Challenge against the best schools in the country, the CBS report added.
The challenge for this year is to achieve a height of 800 feet – or as close as possible – with your rocket containing two raw eggs that should be preserved and returned back to Earth in between 43 to 47 seconds.
They achieved this in a test run which is well within the time limit, just 44 seconds.
Proving her “exceptional ability”
However, Condino’s path to success wasn’t always a walk in the park. She also experienced a lot of hardships especially on her temporary working visa.
According to the report, for her to become a permanent resident, she needed to prove to American immigration officials that she is a person of "exceptional ability."
In an interview with CBS News correspondent Steve Hartman, Condino said that the American immigration officials are asking for more documents and more support.
“I really do not know what else they would want from me," she said.
To which Hartman replied, “You're the best aerospace teacher in America, what more could they want?”
An award-winning teacher
In 1993, Condino got her bachelors degree in Physics from the Philippine Normal University in Manila. She teaches subjects such Physics, Advanced Placement Physics B, Chemistry, and Scientific Research and Design subjects at the Presidio High School in Texas, according to her profile in Scott Crossfield Foundation.
Before teaching rocketry in Presidio, she taught at Eastwood Middle School in El Paso, Texas.
She also took part in some notable astronomy development programs and also won some awards:
Observatory in Fort Davis, Texas – Texas Space Grant Consortium Astronomy Workshop (2005)
Mt. Kitt Peak Observatory in Tucson, Arizona - Grant recipient of the Teacher Leader on Research Based Science Educator (TLRBSE) of the National Optical and Astronomical Observatory (2005)
San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California - SETI Institute Astrobiology Summer Science Experience for Teachers (2007) US Rocket and Space Center in Huntsville, Alabama – The Educator Space Camp where she received ‘The Right Stuff’ medal by former astronaut Robert Hoot Gibson (2010)
A. Scott Crossfield Aerospace Education Teacher of the Year Award (2011)
“Well, God really works in wonders. He will provide you with the right people to meet and work with,” Condino said in her acceptance speech.
Condino is the oldest of eight children from parents who both retired as elementary school principals. - with Andrei Medina, Jon Lindley Agustin, VVP, GMA News
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