Community Notes:

Exhibit Honoring Mexico’s 200th Year of Independence

    Escondido Children’s Museum (ECM) is launching a new, interactive exhibit featuring artwork created by children all over the world illustrating México’s history.

    The artwork to be featured at ECM is the result of  “Éste es Mi México– “This is My Mexico”,  a drawing contest organized every year by Mexico’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Institute for Mexicans Abroad .

    The grand opening of the exhibit will be from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 31 with special guest speaker Remedios Gómez Arnau, Cónsul General of México in San Diego at 5:30 p.m. The exhibit also will feature an interactive timeline of Mexican history.

NASA Astronaut José Hernández in San Diego to Speak at Council for Opportunity Education’s Conference

    NASA Astronaut José M. Hernández will serve as the keynote speaker at the opening plenary session during the Council for Opportunity in Education’s (COE) 29th Annual Conference, Sept. 1-4, at the Manchester Grand Hyatt in San Diego, Calif.  Held on Wednesday, Sept. 1, Hernández will kick off the four-day event by sharing insights from his recent space mission on the Shuttle Discovery as well as his experience as a former low-income and first-generation student aiming for degrees in science and engineering.

    One of four children in a migrant farming family from Mexico, Hernández worked alongside his family and other farm workers throughout the fields of California, harvesting crops and moving from one town to another. He attended many schools and didn’t learn to speak English until he was 12. After graduating from high school in Stockton, Hernández enrolled at the University of the Pacific in Stockton, where he participated in Student Support Services, a federal TRIO program that provides academic support for low-income, first-generation college students. Hernández earned a degree in electrical engineering and was awarded a full scholarship to the graduate program at the University of California in Santa Barbara.

    Hernández joined the Johnson Space Center, in Houston, Texas as a materials research engineer, and he completed astronaut candidate training in 2006. In 2001, COE named him a TRIO Achiever, a national award which honors former TRIO participants for their professional accomplishments.

    This year’s conference theme is “Fitting STEM into the College Opportunity Equation,” which focuses on increasing science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) educational opportunity for low-income and first-generation students. The event features networking and educational sessions along with an exhibit hall displaying the newest and best products and services available to college opportunity professionals.

    For additional information about the COE 29th Annual Conference, visit the organization’s Web site at http://www.coenet.us/.