Retired Del Norte Heights Elementary school teacher is featured in national Ford Motors commercial

For Josie Pacheco, traveling to space was a dream of hers since she was a young kid.

“I’m a proud immigrant, I came from Mexico with my family in 1963. Prior to that I had no idea that space exploration even existed,” said Pacheco. “At such a young age I felt, I would love to do this. But when I was younger my parents said no. They thought it was not appropriate for women to pursue mens careers.”

Pacheco knew that she still wanted to go to college but instead of studying space, she decided to get a degree in a job that was more accepting of women.

Pacheco would spend 35 years teaching elementary school students until her retirement from Del Norte Heights elementary school back in 2015.

“All my adult life spent with children, guiding children, and then I started asking myself the question, ‘What else is there for me’,” said Pacheco.

Years later her dream of going to space camp would become a reality all thanks to a casting call on the Las Cruces Space Festival’s facebook page.

“It mentioned that Gina Rodriguez and a famous brand were looking for three women between the ages of 60 and 75 that always dreamed of being an astronaut but could never achieve their dream,” said Pacheco.

Josie’s children encouraged their mom to enter the contest. That night she wrote her essay entry and sent it to the casting directors.

“And then all of a sudden I get the call. Congratulations Josie you were selected, I was like oh my gosh,” said Pacheco.

The following week she and two other women would fly out to Huntsville Alabama to participate in Space Camp.

“We trained in the multi axel trainer. We tried the moon walk trainer. That was a lot of fun. The most difficult for me was scuba diving,” said Pacheco.

After space camp the women flew to Los Angeles to record a commercial for Ford Motor Company with Jane the Virgin Star, Gina Rodriguez.

The message behind the Ford commercial was to empower women and young girls to never give up on their dreams- something Pacheco never did.

“So don’t give up you know. It’s never too late and learning never ends,” said Pacheco.

If you would like to watch the full commercial CLICK HERE.