Chief, Navy Medical Corps Attends Congressional Panel During Hispanic Engineering, Science, & Technology Week

EDINBURG, Texas (NNS) -- "The STEM Revolution" is the theme of the 2014 Hispanic Engineering, Science, and Technology (HESTEC) Week held on the campus of the University of Texas-Pan American (UTPA), Oct. 6-12.

HESTEC Week is an educational conference that features events geared toward promoting science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education to people of all ages and backgrounds.

The week began with a congressional panel of 10 distinguished speakers focused on increases in STEM-related degrees and employment.

Chief, Navy Medical Corps, Rear Adm. Raquel Bono participated in the panel along with U.S. Representatives Ruben Hinojosa (TX-15) and Marc Veasey (TX-33), along with other executives from UTPA, Los Fresnos Consolidated Independent School District, NASA, HEB, Shell, Hispanic Heritage Foundation, and the Hispanic Scholarship Fund.

"You are the ones who help inspire young minds," said Bono to an audience of more than 300 educators. "It is an important job that you have, and we cannot thank you enough."

A native of San Antonio, Bono said the Navy provides numerous opportunities for careers in STEM. She shared her journey of attaining a STEM education by attending the University of Texas and completing medical school at Texas Tech University through use of a Navy scholarship.

"The sky is the limit, but it starts with all of you all in the room ... to help put that spark in motion and be able to know where you can direct your students to take advantage of opportunities such as HESTEC," said Bono.

Hinojosa explained the origin of HESTEC and its importance.

"This is our 13th anniversary and we are delighted that the legacy started by our past presidents is continuing," said Hinojosa. "I began working with the University of Texas-Pan American with then past President, Dr. Miguel Nevarez to establish HESTEC Week in 2001. It was because I felt that south Texas needed to do much more to strengthen the STEM educational pipeline for Latinos and Latinas throughout the country. For far too long has Latinos been grossly under misrepresented the STEM fields."

Through the support of sponsors and partners, to include the U.S. Navy, HESTEC strives to empower teachers and administrators with the resources to inspire their students to pursue STEM careers (Educator Day); engage secondary level students in STEM-related, hands-on activities and presentations (Student Leadership Day, Latina Day, Robotics Day, Middle School Challenge and SeaPerch Challenge); provide university students with employment and internship opportunities (College Symposiums and Fall Career Expo); and involve the community as a whole (Community Day).