by Joan Aguon Charfauros
Guam - Former Guam resident 39-year-old Marita Sablan Beard left the island when she was about three years old with her parents Edward and Marlene Perez Sablan to reside in Vallejo, California. She discovered a love of astronomy at Vallejo's St. Patrick-St. Vincent High School where she graduated back in 1990. That love would lead her to earn a degree in physics from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 1995 - one of just three women to complete the program that year.
"My first job right out of college was working as an assistant for a research group that was working at the NASA Aames Research Center in Mountain View where they were trying to build an instrument for SOFIA," she explained.
Currently Beard teaches earth science and physics at Branham High School in San Jose.
Recently, Beard was one of six educators from across the nation selected to partake in the SOFIA mission. This is a very special mission because it is the first team of educators selected to participate in the Airborne Astronomy Ambassadors program. Beard was overwhelmed by the first-hand experience and realized just how much goes into the success of SOFIA.
"We got to fly in the plane along with the mission team and find out what these people's jobs are like," she said. She said she came back with a greater knowledge and was excited to share her experience with her students. "When I actually came back was when they were really excited because I had pictures to show them - this is what I did!" she said.
As a result of this incredible experience, Beard has received a lot of praise from family and friends all over. "Lots of Facebook comments and congratulations...it was really nice," she said.
Beard notes that there have been talks to fly her to Guam so that she can speak to the students of Guam and let them know that sky's the limit.
