U.S.A.F. Lt. Colonel Olga Custodio Goes to New Heights

Thursday, November 15, 2018

Lt. Colonel Olga Custodio, United States Air Force (Retired) fighter pilot, spoke on Thursday, November 1, 2018, as part of the Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) Compelling Conversation Series and as the opening event of the College’s Veteran’s Week celebration.

At the event, Custodio shared her personal story of perseverance. “Querer es poder, where there’s a will there’s a way. That is my mantra,” she told students, urging them to follow their dreams.
 
Initially turned away from flight school for being a woman, it was Custodio’s fighting spirit and passion for flying that took her where few women had gone before. As the first Latina pilot, Custodio became a highly accomplished military and commercial pilot with over 40 years of experience in aviation.
 
Now retired, the Latinx trailblazer continues to lead and inspire, championing STEM and motivating women and girls to pursue aviation and male-dominated professions.
 
“Nothing worth achieving is easy,” she said. You’re in school, you’re investing in your future, now I want you to find your passion and treat is as if it were the only thing you are trying to pursue.”
 
Prior to the presentation, Custodio toured the College’s newly renovated Veterans Center, meeting with student veterans and staff members at the center before addressing students studying Biology and Biomedical Engineering at the College enjoying a lunch hosted in her honor in the College’s Mary L. Fifield Art Gallery.
 
Join BHCC for upcoming speaker events:
 
Matthew Desmond | November 15
Pulitzer Prize-winning Sociologist and Author
 
Wade Davis | February 28
Former NFL Player, Equality Advocate and Educator
 
Roxane Gay
Author and Cultural Critic
 
Seng Ty
Author of The Years of Zero
BHCC’s 2018-2019 One Book Selection