Path to NASA from TAMUK

Jackson recognized during Black Heritage Month

Heavy textbooks, scribbled notes and the strong smell of coffee surrounded Sherie Jackson as she prepared for a late night of studying in a small Denny’s booth. Jackson, a student athlete with the Texas A&M University-Kingsville (TAMUK) women’s basketball team, was an engineering student and single mom who tirelessly sought success through her studies.  

The work in the dimly lit dining room with the sound of clanging dishes later transformed into work for the military and the roaring of jet engines. Jackson now works at NASA’s Johnson Space Center serving as the Mission Assurance Lead for the Vertex Company. 

Jackson, Class of 2000, finds it important for a closely knit community like TAMUK to have strong alumni. She is constantly looking for ways to provide opportunities and to shed light on the quality education she feels TAMUK offers.

Jackson looks at her career with disbelief and the amazement of how far hard work has taken her.  

“I always tell people [about] where I ended up. It would sound like I’m making it up, like it’s not real. I come from Placedo, Texas, and now I get to train astronauts. I work on military projects and weapons and work with fighter pilots and on 777 Jumbo jets. It’s just amazing to look back and see where I am now and where I started and everything in between,” Jackson shared.

Although she now finds herself more than 250 miles away, Jackson is continuously making an impact on TAMUK. She was recently selected as one of the Heritage Heroes for Black Heritage Month. This award is in honor of the contributions Jackson has made to the community and in recognition of her success.  

“Any recognition I gain from my alma mater, I deeply honor and cherish. It is so special that someone has paid attention to what I’ve done or that what I’ve done has rung loud enough for it to be heard back in Kingsville,” Jackson cheerfully shared. “For four-and-a-half years my foundation was laid in Kingsville, everything that I accomplished and built are on what I experienced and took away from that community. I’m just excited that you [TAMUK] care enough to recognize what I’m doing.” 

As Jackson has grown with her career and built upon experiences in a corporate environment, she has never let the color of her skin define the limit to success.  

“When it comes to being a minority in the workplace sometimes it’s not about forgetting who you are, but you have to learn to work outside the package that we come in,” Jackson said. “You have to get to a point where your qualifications and skills speak for themselves; your reputation speaks for itself because you want people to know about who you are before they see who you are.” 

Jackson and fellow Heritage Hero, head coach of the men’s basketball team Johnny Estelle, created a strong friendship during their time together as basketball players and students at TAMUK. This led to them following each other throughout their professional growth, cheering each other on every step of the way.  

“She’s still adding chapters to her legacy. She is continuously giving back and paying the blessings forward. She is continuously doing things to help others,” Estelle said. “She is very competitive, hardworking and confident. It’s a confidence that she belonged and that has helped her later in life.” 

Jackson continues a relationship with TAMUK through the Javelina Alumni Association and by serving on a leadership board with the athletic department.  

“I’m always looking for opportunities to reach back into the university to create opportunity, bring awareness to the quality of education you can obtain, the sense of family that’s there…and that we do have a strong alumnus,” Jackson said.

Jackson also encourages students to make connections, find out who the movers and shakers are, make friends that’ll be there whenever you need.

During move-in day for the on-campus dorms in Fall 1997, an abrupt knock on Jackson’s door was the beginning of a life-long friendship with Amy Washington, now Amy Forte.   

“Sherie is one of the most giving people I know,” Forte said.  “She was there for me whenever I needed her, she’s a giving person and extremely compassionate. She’s supported me in ways that are not in the normal bounds of a regular friendship.” 

Jackson and Forte became extremely close during their time in Kingsville, they’d go to Young’s Pizza, support each other in school events and continue to support one another today.

“We would go to football games, go to Corpus a whole lot, we were both in Alpha Kappa Alpha, both ran for homecoming in Fall of ’98. Although we didn’t win, it was a lot of fun. We also spent a lot of time studying at Denny’s.”

And it was in that Denny’s that Jackson stuffed books into her bag along with crumbled sheets of paper with old notes as she prepared to head home to her biggest mission, her newborn baby. Twenty-five years later Jackson feels deeply grateful for the support and recognition she has always received from her alma mater.