We grew up being familiar with our parents and our guardians’ popular words of encouragement “sky’s the limit,” which actually means that nothing is impossible, that we can do and achieve anything that our heart desires.
The past generation used the sky as the farthest limit when measuring great distances. But scientists now insist that, at this day and age, measure of great distances no longer stop at the sky, which is basically the troposphere and stratosphere above the earth. We can now use the moon, which is way beyond the earth’s exosphere, as the benchmark of great distances from the earth, simply because people have already heroically stamped their footprints on such satellite.
I’m pleasantly surprised to learn that as many as a quarter of the workforce in the aeronautics industry is composed of women. In fact, in an effort to carry out its mission to provide women access to all resources, as co-equals of men, Zonta International put up, in 1938, the now-popular Amelia Earhart Fellowship, in honor of the famous pilot who, curiously, was a Zontian.
This $10,000 Fellowship is being given annually to as many as 35 women all over the world who pursue a Ph.D/doctoral degree in aerospace engineering and space sciences. The beneficiary must be registered in a full-time program and has completed at least one year of that program or has received a Master’s Degree in an aerospace-related field at the time the application is submitted.
From the program’s inception, Zonta‘s Amelia Earhart Fellowship has already benefitted 1245 women from 75 countries, amounting to more than $11 million in scholarships. Recipients have gone on to become astronauts, aerospace engineers, astronomers, professors, geologists, business owners, heads of companies, and one even became the Secretary of the US Air Force.
I learned from my good friend, Rita Dy, past president of Zonta Club of Makati Ayala, that the Zonta Club of Makati and Environs celebrated last month its 50th anniversary and, to commemorate Amelia Earhart Month, they invited as guest speaker Engr. Naoko Yamazaki, an Amelia Earhart Fellow who is the second Japanese female astronaut to have traveled to space onboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2010.
Engr. Yamazaki tackled the topic, “Diversity in Space Exploration,” by discussing the benefits of the fellowship program that opened opportunities for her as an exchange student at the University of Maryland. She shared with the local Zontians how she was inspired to pursue Engineering and Robotics courses. Networking with other fellows, meeting her role models, and visiting the Smithsonian Museum motivated her to pursue her childhood dream of becoming an astronaut.
Zonta International believes that the Amelia Earhart Fellowship will certainly advance the status of women in the male-dominated aeronautics industry. Engr. Yamazaki has proven that women with great ambitions will soar to great heights, as long as they work hard and stay focused and undeterred, despite many challenges.
Now that the sky no longer poses a limit…we can go way beyond it, all the way to the moon, with our aspirations…even our physical presence! No wonder I now hear my friend, Rita Dy, singing her favorite song, “Fly me to the moon and let me play among the stars…”
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