I recently read a nice article in West Hawaii Today of a young person, Mike Rasay, who came out of a small rural school in South Kona.
The 1997 Konawaena graduate idolized our Kona-born and -raised astronaut Ellison Onizuka, and is now doing things he could not have imagined just a few years ago — such as serving as a “ground segment lead in Tuesday’s launch of a NASA microsatellite to study space’s affect on cells in long-duration space travel.”
These are the kinds of things that happen when students are influenced by a special teacher, inspired by surrounding events and supported as they pursue their dreams.
All Big Island students now go on excursions to ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center, where they are awed and inspired by stories of astronomy and Hawaiian culture. If the Thirty Meter Telescope, the best telescope in the whole world, comes here with a new paradigm of support for local communities and education for young students, more people like Mike Rasay will find themselves being able to do the unimaginable.
Rocket science: Konawaena grad contributing to NASA mission
by Chelsea Jensen
West Hawaii Today
cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com
Monday, May 4, 2009 8:55 AM HST
Never let graduating from a school in Hawaii keep you from accomplishing your dreams.
“I have been on the bad end of the comments where people say ‘you’re never going to amount to anything. You’re never going to have a chance to do anything you want to so there’s no sense in trying,'” said Mike Rasay, a 1997 graduate of Konawaena High School who will serve as a ground segment lead in Tuesday’s launch of a NASA microsatellite to study space’s affect on cells in long-duration space travel.
…
“I never thought I would get into doing space missions. You never really think it’s possible,” said Rasay. “I always feel like I proved the naysayers wrong and just have been able to break through all of the negative generalizations about the students from Hawaii.”
Read the rest of the article at West Hawaii Today.