By LUKE PUTVIN

WAGRO, founded by Julieta Altamirano-Crosby and Patrick Crosby in 2012, focuses on providing resources to people and groups in underserved communities. The name of the organization means Washington (WA) and Guerrero (GRO); Altamirano-Crosby was born and raised in Guerrero, and she currently lives in Lynnwood. She co-founded WAGRO in order to help Latinos and Indigenous Mexican students to find academic success in Washington.

Recently, by partnering with other organizations, WAGRO ran its second NASA WAGRO summer camp. Last year, the camp was only at Everett Community College; this year, however, WAGRO expanded the program to take place not only at Everett Community College but at Totem Middle School in Marysville and at Take the Next Step in Monroe.

Daniela Altamirano-Crosby, Julieta and Patrick’s daughter, is a student at University of Washington focusing in Political Science and International Relations. She ran the camp this year.

There were approximately 25 children at each location, and they ranged from age 8 to the end of middle school. The camp focused on rocketry and teaching the children to build water rockets and rockets from Estes, a model rocket company founded in Denver, Colorado.

“As a child, I grew up in a rural area,” said Julieta Altamirano-Crosby. “I was never able to do stuff like this… I’m not an engineer, and I enjoy being there with the kids, learning all this stuff with them. I don’t expect any perfection; it’s okay to fail. We would ask, ‘why do you think it didn’t work?’ and try again.”

The two spent multiple days getting certified by the Northwest Earth and Space Sciences Pipeline (NESSP) which is funded through the NASA Science Mission Directorate and housed at the University of Washington. WAGRO partnered with NESSP to make the WAGRO summer camp happen.

“I love the fact that I’m going to be able to make an impact in these kids’ lives and teach them that education is important,” said Daniela Altamirano-Crosby. “I also went through this program in high school, so this is me giving back to NESSP as well.”

“Nothing is impossible,” she continued. “They can dream big. If they want to be an astronaut, they can; they just have to put a lot of hard work behind it. With this program, they can meet people who have gone through the path they want to go through.”

Daniela and Julieta wanted to thank NASA-NESSP and Delta/Aeromexico for their partnership. Additionally, they thanked Luis Guitart, Market Manager of the Pacific Northwest for Delta/Aeromexico, and Captain Ron Silberman who were present at the camp.

For more information on WAGRO, visit www.wa-gro.com.