Q&A Session with Teresa Alvarado

Q: Would you take more math if you could go back to high school?

A: I wouldn't necessarily take more math in high school, but I would 
   definitely pay attention more and really learn the material I was 
   presented with. I mean I took the right classes and I definitely had 
   the potential to take more, but didn't get as much out of them as I 
   could have because I wasn't disciplined.


Q: What else do you believe can be done besides the Women in Science program
   to encourage girls to pursue more advanced subjects in high school?

A: I think a lot can be done by just talking about math fear and other
   intimidating subjects - that many of us felt fears and worked to overcome
   them and are still working at it all the time.

   But more specifically, I am starting to do some work with the Santa Clara
   County Commission on the Status of Women's Adolescent Women Committee (a
   mouthful!). They are surveying young women in high schools about various
   topics and will use the data to advocate for more and better programs 
   to be offered at the local level. With budget cuts abounding, student 
   support services are at risk and this group is hoping to combat that.

   Also, I hope to assist in planning a youth conference in San Jose 
   through the Mexican-American Community Services Agency Youth Center. 
   This is still very much in the planning stages, but I would like to 
   have one focus of that conference be education. Other topics I think 
   are important to cover are violence/safety, health, and self esteem of 
   youth.

   I think that direct mentoring of young women is a great help because 
   we all need someone, or more than just one someone, to pat us on the back
   sometimes. Itry to do that with my own two nieces (ages 15 and 16) and to
   other teenage women I meet. I get tired of the public image that all 
   teenagers are gang members or slackers because that is just NOT the 
   case. There are so many good deeds and efforts that go unsung. We all 
   have to do a better job of recognizing and commending them.


Q: Would you go into this field if you had it to do over?

A: This is an awesome field and is so interdisciplinary. You can work in so
   many different aspects of the environmental field: government 
   regulation and policy, technical writing, soil and groundwater 
   remediation (clean-up), hazardous materials handling (just about all 
   chemicals), hazardous waste management, air quality and pollution 
   specialties, storm water runoff pollution prevention, etc., etc.

   This is also what I meant by interdisciplinary. In my degree program -
   Environmental Studies with an emphasis in Natural Resource Management and
   Policy - and minor degree in Technical Writing - I took SO MANY classes in
   various fields: geology, political science (environmental policy), 
   writing, environmental economics, environmental health, environmental 
   law, graphic design (to make publications), and others. It was super 
   interesting and San Jose State has a great flexible program whereby 
   you can make your Environmental Studies emphasis virtually anything 
   you want. They require a core group of classes, but after that, you 
   really have a lot of flexibility.

   So, are you sold yet?!


Q: Do men get more deals/pay/etc. in your line of work?

A: This also relates to the last answer because the environmental field is
   growing by leaps and bounds and women are really getting in at the ground
   floor of this expansion. So, there's a lot less discrepancy in 
   positions and pay in the environmental field than other fields because 
   the growth in the workforce is really pretty recent and, as such, 
   there are many women in it. In fact, in two of the three environmental 
   management positions I've had, my bosses were women and there's 
   clearly a good balance between men and women in the Environmental 
   Studies classes I've taken.

   One thing that is lacking, however, is ethnic diversity. The field is 
   still very much a white one and I was the only Latina in the last three 
   jobs in the environmental department that was not a secretary or some 
   other clerical position. But I hope to change that by encouraging all 
   women, especially women of color, to go into environmental management.


Q: I am having the same problem you had in high school - coasting through.
   I don't want to wait until college to fix it.  Can you help me with
   suggestions to motivate myself now?

A: Oh man, that's a tough one. I still have to kick myself in the butt
   sometimes. But it's good to do that because then you can look back on what
   you've accomplished instead of always putting things off and having them 
   hang over your head. And what I've found is that when I work hard on one 
   thing, it makes me more motivated in other areas as well. For example, 
   my work has been really busy, but I still do a lot of community and 
   political volunteer work, I work out regularly, and see friends a lot. 
   So, being productive in one area does give you energy overall and adds 
   balance to your life. And that's what it's all about as far as I'm 
   concerned: having a healthy balance in your life.  Otherwise, you lose 
   perspective of what's important and risk becoming myopic and only 
   focusing on work.

   So, try to get the most out of school and everything else you're involved
   with. And remember to give back too. It's very fulfilling.


Q: How long did you have to go to college before you started working at NASA?

A: Well, this is kind of hard to answer because I was in school for so long
   because I always worked full-time. When I graduated in high school in
   1982, I went straight to college. But I only stayed in school full-time
   for one year. After that I always worked and just took one or two classes
   at a time. In fact, for a while I didn't attend school at all. So, I just
   really focused on school about 5 years ago and will receive my diploma 
   this year - at 30 years old!

   In a way this was okay for me because I got a lot of good work experience
   in and out of my field. (I've been working in environmental management 
   since 1991.) But if you can, try to get good enough grades to get 
   scholarships or get financial aid so that you can focus on school and 
   not spend as long as I did as a student.


Q: Is it hard to have a life out of work?

A: No, it's not hard at all to have a life out of work if it's important to
   you. A lot of people let work take over their lives, but I never have. I 
   have always volunteered on political campaigns, volunteered for a 
   couple of local Latino art and theatre organizations, and spent a lot 
   of time with friends and family.

   Another example is my boss (a very interesting and incredibly 
   hard-working woman named Sandy) who raises her teenage daughter alone and
   makes a point to spend the time teaching aikido (a martial art). Her 
   way of bringing balance to her life (and maintaining her sanity, I 
   suspect.)

   So, you see, you have to make time for the things that are important to
   you.  Otherwise, your life can be consumed by work and no amount of 
   money is worth that kind of imbalance, as far as I'm concerned.


Q: What is the Housing Action Coalition?

A: The Housing Action Coalition is a coalition of people from a wide range of
   jobs and interests who have the common concern that housing in Santa Clara
   County is not affordable for most working people. So, we go to local 
   community groups and political bodies and encourage them to support 
   the creation of more affordable housing - housing that has a higher 
   density (more housing units per acre).

   Another thing we stress is that affordable housing should be built along 
   mass transportation corridors (i.e., the light rail line) to encourage 
   valley residents to use mass transit which will reduce traffic and 
   decrease air pollution.

   You see, all these different variables affect our quality of life in this
   area (price of houses, air quality, traffic) and will encourage us to 
   either stay in this area or move away. I was born and raised in San 
   Jose and I'd rather stay in this area that I love so much.