Jackson Magnet STEM Dual Language Academy Community Selects Pioneering Aerospace Mathematician Mary W. Jackson as its New School Namesake

The Jackson Magnet STEM Dual Language Academy community has voted, selecting pioneering aerospace mathematician Mary W. Jackson as its new school namesake! Jackson was one of a trio of African American “computers” – women who performed complex calculations that launched NASA’s space program – in the 2016 movie “Hidden Figures.”

A committee of parents and staff began researching candidates for the school’s renaming before the pandemic. Students and staff cast ballots to choose the name in tandem with the midterm elections earlier this month, and Principal Rita Exposito emphasized the importance of participating in the democratic process before the committee unveiled a poster revealing the winning name to a very excited crowd of students, staff, parents, and community leaders, including PUSD Board member Elizabeth Pomeroy and members of the Altadena Town Council.

Other namesake candidates were astronaut Ellen Ochoa, farm labor & civil rights leader Dolores Huerta, and the Xaxaamonga (anglicized to Hahamongna) tribe of the Tongva people of California. The school will consider other ways of honoring these names on the campus.

Jackson Magnet STEM Dual Language Academy, 593 W. Woodbury Rd., Altadena, (626) 396-5700 or visit https://www.pusd.us/site/Default.aspx?PageID=21.

Pasadena Education Network (PEN), 3579 E. Foothill Blvd. #481, Pasadena, (866) 216-7334 or visit www.penfamilies.org.