BROOK PARK, Ohio — Aim for the stars and don’t let anything hold you back. That’s the message from one woman who’s dedicating her life to her passion and to helping others fulfill their own dreams.
As part of News 5’s celebration of Hispanic Heritage Month, we’re introducing you to the Chief Engineer of Aeronautics at NASA Glenn Research Center, Adabelle Narvaez-Bostwick. She’s been working there for 35 years.
"We do a lot of work to make the commercial aircraft that you fly every day safer, more sustainable, green, lower the emissions,” she told News 5. News 5 met with her in the center’s 8x6 wind tunnel where they test and develop aeronautic technologies. Narvaez-Bostwick told us working for NASA was her dream.
"When I went to college we were in the space station, in the space shuttle, and I saw that and I'm like 'one day, I'm gonna work at NASA." She got to work making that dream a reality, teaching herself English by buying her books in English instead of Spanish. She said she also had help along the way.
"A teacher in physics was a huge mentor for me,” she said. "He helped me to realize the potential that I had to do what I wanted to do, and that if I worked hard for it I could go far."
Narvaez-Bostwick’s journey from Puerto Rico to NASA Glenn helped her realize how much it means to have someone in your corner.
"As a Hispanic living on a small island, it was very hard for people to believe you could get to where you wanted to go," she said. It inspired her to become a mentor herself, both to young professionals at NASA Glenn and by visiting area schools to talk about her work. It’s a role she’s incredibly passionate about.
"It's the people that are there to get you through the hard times. It's the people that get you up, it's the people that [are going to] see your potential and take you as far as they can. And if I can do that for even one person, that would make me very happy."
