Burges Grad, UTEP Alum, Astronaut Olivas Returns To EP

EL PASO, Tx. -As UTEPcelebrates homecoming this week, theuniversity welcomes back the first El Pasoan who will blast off into space.

The Burges High School graduate and UTEP alum Danny Olivas wasback in town Thursday, not to brag about his Master’s degree or his PhD or his pending shuttle flight early next year. Instead, the Olivas hopes today’s teens see their own potential through his experiences.

Olivas,the Class of 1984 graduate spoke to an auditorium full of students and teachers at BurgesThursday morning.

He stressed how important hard work and perseverance are to reachtheir goals.

Olivas tells ABC-7, “It’s really easy to see failure and to walk away from it, and just accept the failure for what it is…but if you internalize it and really try and figure out why the failure occurred in the first place, you grow and you learn.”

Mr. Olivas is constantly reinforcing to students, and anyone who asks, that he wasn’t the best student in his class. But with the endless support of his family, he pushed on, and focused on his ultimate goal.

Olivas will take his first flight into space in February of next year. He is taking memorabilia from Burges andUTEP with himon the mission.