Ellen Ochoa Profile
Mission
The Ellen Ochoa community will model and teach leadership skills and behaviors, challenge students to set and meet goals, inspire all students to developand use their gifts and talents, and provide real world opportunities to positively impact the community.
Leader in Me
We are a Leader in Me school that uses the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People to empower students and to provide opportunities for students to grow as leaders.
Motto
Learn, Lead, and Light the Way.
Vision
Ellen Ochoa Elementary is a diverse community unified to empower students to become leaders and reach their fullest potential.
Overview
Ellen Ochoa is the newest school at Union Public Schools, opening its doors for the first time on Tuesday, August 22, 2017, thanks to the overwhelming support of voters for the first two phases of the school's construction during bond elections in 2016 and 2017.
Union presented a third bond issue which was approved by voters in February 2018 to allow Ellen Ochoa to accommodate another 500 students starting in the 2019-2020 school year.
Amenities
Ellen Ochoa Elementary is a beautiful addition to the area. It is an energy-efficient, state-of-the art, student- and family-friendly Community School. Its amenities include open learning corridors, classrooms that share a common dream space, “maker spaces” for project-based learning, and a health clinic.
History
Union Public Schools officially broke ground on the site of its new elementary school with a ceremony at 10 a.m. Tuesday, July 12, 2016. The school was often called the 14th newest school but it actually replaced Briarglen Elementary School, which closed its doors in June 2017.
Briarglen Elementary was Union's first elementary school and it served a pivotal service for the community from 1970 until 2017. The building will continue to serve the community as part of a planned partnership with Community Action Partnership.
Pre-kindergarten students enjoy a music lesson.
Ellen Ochoa
Elementary named after first Hispanic female astronaut
The Board of Education on March 20, 2017, approved the name of Union’s newest school as Ellen Ochoa Elementary in honor of the first Hispanic female astronaut and the current director of the NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Born on May 10, 1958, in Los Angeles, California, Dr. Ellen Ochoa received her master of science and doctorate degrees at Stanford University. She was selected by NASA in 1990, and in 1991 became the world's first Hispanic female astronaut. A mission specialist and flight engineer, Ochoa is a veteran of four space flights, logging more than 950 hours in space.
Her technical assignments have included flight software and computer hardware development and robotics development, testing, and training. She has served as Assistant for Space Station to the Chief of the Astronaut Office, lead spacecraft communicator in Mission Control, and Acting Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office. She currently serves as Director of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and she will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame on May 19, 2017.
Ochoa graduated from Grossmont High School in La Mesa, California, in 1975 (Valedictorian), and received a bachelor of science degree in physics from San Diego State University in 1980 (Valedictorian). She then went on to attend Stanford University, where she received a master of science degree (1981) and a doctorate (1985), both in electrical engineering.
Ochoa's numerous awards include NASA's Exceptional Service Medal (1997), Outstanding Leadership Medal (1995), and Space Flight Medals (2002, 1999, 1994, 1993). Besides being an astronaut, researcher, and engineer, Ochoa is a classical flutist. She lives in Texas with her husband, Coe Fulmer Miles, and their two children.
Community School Village
Broad Array of Services
Ellen Ochoa Elementary is the first purpose-built community school in the district. Ellen Ochoa serves the growing community in Union’s northeast quadrant. The building was completed in 2018, opening to a full complement of 1,100 students in August 2019.
Health Services
With the addition of an onsite clinic in 2020, Ellen Ochoa Elementary has since grown into a community school village. In April 2016, voters overwhelmingly approved the passage of the Vision Tulsa package, which included $9.975 million toward the funding of Community Health Connection’s new Eastside Clinic.
The clinic offers a broad array of services, including dental, prenatal/post-partum, pediatrics, family medicine, integrated behavioral healthcare and discounted prescriptions to patients.
Changing Lives
The Oklahoma State Department of Education: We all know that it takes a village to raise a child. See how Union Public Schools is ensuring its students receive wraparound services for their health, social, emotional and academic needs with the opening of a community school village complete with health center! Through local partnerships, Union was able to leverage the natural community hub of Ellen Ochoa Elementary to provide doctors, dentists and behavioral health services for underinsured students.
"It's gonna change lives in more ways than we can ever imagine," Superintendent Dr. Kirt Hartzler said.
Ellen Ochoa media specialists are excited about reading.
Principals
Principal
Shana Harris
Shana Harris was named principal of Ellen Ochoa Elementary in 2023. She was previously principal at Jefferson Elementary since 2019. She had served as assistant principal at McAuliffe, Grove and Boevers Elementary. Harris worked at Grove Elementary prior to Boevers, where she served as the Instructional Coach. She comes to Union from Tifton, Georgia where she taught for eight years and served as a math coach for two years.
Harris graduated from Rocky Grove High School in Franklin, PA. She received her Bachelor’s Degree in Early Childhood and Elementary Education from Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. She received a Master’s Degree in Elementary and Early Childhood Education from Troy State University of Alabama. She also received an add-on to her Master’s Degree in Elementary Administration from Oral Roberts University.
Assistant Principal
Taya Oelze
Taya Oelze was named assistant principal intern at Ellen Ochoa Elementary in summer 2022. She was named District Teacher of the Year for the 2018-2019 school year.
Oelze has been teaching kindergarten at Ellen Ochoa since it opened in 2017, and also has been serving as Hope Collective leader and coordinator for Union Public Schools since last September. She has been with Union since 2013, initially serving as a kindergarten and first grade looping teaching at McAuliffe Elementary. She also served as a Pledgetalk curriculum pilot director at Ellen Ochoa and kindergarten team lead.
Oelze has a bachelor’s degree in elementary education with a concentration in early child education from Oral Roberts University, a master’s degree in school administration from Oklahoma State University and was a full scholarship recipient in the Trauma Responsive Fellowship Program with Dr. Barbara Sorrels.
Assistant Principal
John Watkins
John Watkins was named assistant principal intern at Ellen Ochoa in 2023. He was named the 2022-2023 Teacher of the Year at Grove Elementary School.
Watkins, who graduated in 2004 from Union as a “Union Lifer” received his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from Northeastern State University in December of 2010.
Watkins received his master’s degree from Grand Canyon University in Educational Administration in 2023 with certifications in elementary education and English as a second language.
Watkins started teaching at the old Briarglen Elementary in 2011, but he has been working for Union since 2005 starting as an Extended Day Program assistant supervisor.
Ellen Ochoa In Photos
