Issue link: http://educator.cta.org/i/1316347
on weekends to encourage more females to enter STEAM and computer careers. Woods became interested in computers in the 1980s, when few women were in the field, through her work in the aerospace industr y. When she went to aerospace or computer science conferences, she was mistaken for a secretar y. "I thought about dyeing my blonde hair dark , because people didn't take me seriously and asked me to get them a cup of coffee," she laughs. She began teaching computer skills at the Riverside County Adult Education Program and enjoyed it so much, she decided to earn a teaching credential in information and commu- nications technologies and a master 's degree in workforce education development. She taught computer certification courses at the high school level and then turned her focus to cyber- security, in partnership with synED, a nonprofit that nominated her for the award (Woods is synED's academic relations manager). Woods serves on the governor 's Cybersecu- rity Task Force, the NICE Working Group and the NICE K-12 planning group. The presidential award caught her by sur- prise. She almost didn't answer the call from a restricted number in Washington, D.C. But when she did, it was U.S. Education Secretary Betsy DeVos informing her of the award, established by executive order in conjunction with the National Security Council's homeland security adviser and the National Science Foundation. "Forty-three states submitted nominations, and I had assumed the award was put on hold due to COVID," says Woods. "I was deeply hon- ored that the collaborative work of our team of instructors and partners was being recognized. When it fully hit me, I began to cry happy tears, as our work has been a very fulfilling journey. We are changing the lives of our students.'' J E N N I F E R E S C O B A R was raised in a family with a rich tra- dition of storytelling that helped her understand her Chicanx heritage. It was a way to pass on customs and knowledge from one generation to the next. Her mother shared stories of growing up in Texas, where she was punished for speaking Spanish at school. Later, she went back to school and became a teacher. She told her daughter to be proud of who she was, fight against discrimination, and value education. Her stories reminded Escobar to be strong when she felt like an outsider attending UC Riverside in the 1990s, which had few students of color at the time and seldom assigned literature from Chicanx authors and those from other historically marginalized backgrounds. The community college educator and former high school teacher wanted her own students to hear the same kinds of inspiring stories from family, friends and community members. So in 2017, she created an oral history project for college students to interview others and create narratives of their own. The Power of Oral Histories Jennifer Escobar helps teachers and students record the past Jennifer Escobar, right, with fellow oral history project teachers Karyn Thomas, Angelena Tavares and Kimberly Thomas. Woods and students at a National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education K-12 conference. Photo: SynED Jennifer Escobar CHAPTER Riverside Community College District Faculty Association POSITION Associate professor of English 25 D E C E M B E R 2 0 2 0 / J A N U A R Y 2 0 21