October 23, 2015
South Potomac Pilot NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE NAVAL SUPPORT ACTIVITY SOUTH POTOMAC DEFENSE COMMUNITY
NOAA Meteorologist Speaks & Performs at Navy Hispanic Heritage Event after Kennedy Center Debut Link directly to the NSASP Facebook page on your smart phone
INSIDE:
PRESORT STD US POSTAGE PAID SO. MD. NEWSPAPERS PERMIT #1
Local Feds Feed Families Campaign Donations Top 2,500 Pounds Page 6
Isha Renta watched as Hurricane Hugo tracked toward Puerto Rico in 1989 and after all the devastation, wondered how it happened. Recalling the event that inspired her life-long interest in meteorology, “I remember asking myself, at such a young age, what I could do to help my people and reduce the damage,” said Renta, at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) sponsored Hispanic Heritage Observance Oct. 7. That’s when Renta — a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) meteorologist — started dreaming of becoming a meteorologist. She pursued her dream by studying mathematics at the University of Puerto Rico, graduating with a bachelor’s degree. Then Renta studied meteorology at Howard University, receiving her master’s degree in Atmospheric Sciences. Now, she supports the national weather service mission to save life and property, while working on a doctoral degree in Atmospheric Sciences at the University of Maryland. “They say that you choose a job you love and you’ll never have to work a day in your life,” said Renta, describing her love of meteorology. “Those who know me are aware that I’m always talking about what’s going on with the weather and fascinated about the atmosphere and its phenomena.” Renta joined local Navy leaders — including Naval Support Activity South Potomac (NSASP) Commanding Officer Capt. Mary Feinburg and NSWCDD leadership — to celebrate Hispanic Heritage with Dahlgren personnel at the University of Mary Washington Dahlgren campus. With a national theme of “Hispanic Americans: Energizing Our Nation’s Diversity,” the observance celebrated the histories, cultures, and contributions of Americans who trace their roots to Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean, and Central and South America. “Hispanic Americans have served our nation throughout our history and fought at sea in every American war,” said Feinberg in her welcoming remarks. “Their roles have included seamen, 4-star admirals, boatswains
U.S. Navy photo by George Smith
U.S. Navy photo by Patrick Dunn
Isha Renta — guest speaker at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) 2015 Hispanic Heritage Observance — tells the audience about her science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach to students that includes the arts. “I’m a very strong advocate of STEM and a very strong advocate of arts,” said Renta, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration meteorologist. “STEM gives you critical thinking, problem solving, persistence, collaboration, and curiosity. Arts give you social development and the creativity you need for problem solving, academic performance and critical thinking. The arts also give you intellectual development for your curiosity and out of the box thinking for the problem solving part of STEM. They are not mutually exclusive — they actually go together. And when they go together, you get magic.” mates, corpsmen, fighter pilots, doctors, nuclear engineers, policy makers — and of course, meteorologists.” Moreover, Renta pursues another — cultural — role. The NOAA meteorologist achieved her cultural dream by founding Semilla Cultural (Cultural Seed), a non-profit organization dedicated to cultivating a community that embraces diversity by educating, promoting and disseminating Puerto Rican culture and traditions through the state of Virginia. The Dahlgren audience enjoyed the Bomba music and dance performed by Renta and her Semilla Cultural volunteers — which include NSWCDD scientists and engineers. Renta started the organization in 2014 to teach and perform traditional Puerto Rican musical genres while educating the community about his-
torical events that shaped the music. Since Semilla Cultural’s humble beginning in Renta’s basement, its volunteers have been engaged in a whirlwind of public and private classes, workshops, and performances to bring cultural awareness to the state of Virginia. Recently, the group was invited by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts to perform in Washington D.C. Semilla Cultural’s performance at the Sept. 27 extravaganza streamed live over the internet and “made my cultural dream come true,” said Renta. “In 21 months, it has been a great adventure,” she added. “It has not been easy and it’s been overwhelming sometimes . but when I saw what happened at the Kennedy Center, I said ‘yes, it’s worth it.’” Renta — a former NSWCDD em-
Panamanian-folklore dancers Dr. Norma Small-Warren and George Bowen perform at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) 2015 Hispanic Heritage Observance. Small-Warren is the artistic director of Grufolpawa, a non-profit organization composed of a diverse group of men and women of all ages, and mostly, but not exclusively, Panamanians. Grufolpawa’s mission is to disseminate Panamanian folklore by means of its music and interpretive dances. The group volunteers for a multitude of activities throughout the various communities of the Washington D.C. metropolitan area.
ployee — and the audience feel the same way about what happened at Dahlgren’s Hispanic Heritage event. “I have personally received rave feedback,” said Eunice Mercado, NSWCDD Hispanic Employment Program Manager. “The performers all showcased their culture, music and dance and the appreciation of it was evidenced by the overwhelmingly positive response from everyone who attended.” The military, government civilian, and contractor audience also appreciated Renta’s stories about her successful science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) outreach to students that includes the arts.
see Heritage, page 6
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