RELEASE
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08-147
NASA Marshall Center’s Digna Carballosa Encourages Hispanic Community to Focus on Education
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. – Digna Carballosa often remembers what her parents instilled in her as a young girl growing up in Cuba: Focus on education.
Today, Carballosa encourages young people to follow that same guidance that kept her on track to become deputy director of the Office of Human Capital at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
Growing up in the small town of Las Tunas in southern Cuba, Carballosa left with her family in 1980 when they were granted permission by the government to leave the island for Costa Rica. "My father was a political prisoner in Cuba for many years due to his political beliefs," Carballosa said. While in Costa Rica, her parents applied for and were granted right of asylum to the United States. That allows a person persecuted for political opinions or religious beliefs in his or her own country to be protected by another nation. After two years in Costa Rica, the family moved to Miami in 1982, when Carballosa was 12 years old.
"My parents gave up everything they had to come to America to make sure my sister and I could get a good education and have the freedom to express our beliefs and opinions," Carballosa said.
Learning a new language proved difficult for her. But with help from her teachers, Carballosa became fluent in English and flourished in her studies. After graduating from high school, she enrolled at Florida International University in Miami, and earned a bachelor's degree in international affairs in 1992.
The next year, she was hired as a human capital officer in the Office of Personnel Management in Washington. Her experience brought her to NASA in 2007, when she was named deputy director of Marshall's Office of Human Capital. There, she assists in leading a staff of 65 civil service and 85 contractor personnel who work the areas of organization and leadership development, academic affairs, training and incentives, workforce strategy and planning, federal labor relations and employee services and operations.
"I've always been very excited about the work NASA does and was interested in joining an agency that is a leader in science and discovery," Carballosa said. "The work I do at NASA is critical because at the end of the day, hardware doesn't build itself, and a new era of spacecraft doesn't fly itself. Our office recruits skilled employees who work hard to continue NASA's mission of human spaceflight and discovery."
Reaching out to the Hispanic community is especially important to Carballosa. "A lot of NASA's Web site materials are available in Spanish, and many of our employees speak to minority high school and college students to encourage them to consider careers with NASA," Carballosa said. "But we can always strive to do more. It is our job as NASA employees to reach out to our communities to help them understand and appreciate the efforts of our space program."
She wants to influence young people to stay focused on school and career goals, despite challenges. "I want to encourage Hispanic children to do what I did and focus on education. Have confidence, and be passionate in making career choices."
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