Since Cheryl Shintani was a little keiki she wondered what was out there beyond planet Earth. Whenever the astronauts landed in waters near Hawai'i, her parents took her to see them walk down the red carpet at Iolani Palace. On one of those special events, she stepped right on the red carpet beaming at Astronaut John Glenn, thinking how much she wanted to be like him. The years to follow also included pictures of rockets and spacecraft that her Uncle Charlie sent from his NASA office in Maryland. Living in Hawai'i with the cool breeze, blue waters and lots of trees and open space made Cheryl switch from a career in space science to becoming a teacher. She couldn't bear to be enclosed in a place where she couldn't open the windows to catch the wind or even feel the light showers. It seemed that no matter what she taught, whether language arts, performing arts, technology, gifted and talented, environmental science, kindergarten or seventh grade, she used space science as her theme. For more than 20 years, she also taught space science in summer programs across the State of Hawai'i. She felt lucky to have friends who brought vacationing astronauts to her schools and classrooms. And how wonderful it was to be able to partner with schools across our country and in Japan to simulate the building of space stations and testing the environment. Now retired from the teaching field, Cheryl still spend lots of time with students, their families and the community -- Kiwanis, family literacy nights, stargazing, supporting the creations of an exploratorium and an ocean discovery center on the Island of Kaua'i, and leading groups in service learning in the rainforests, in lo 'i kalo (taro fields) and at ancient Hawaiian sites in our napali valleys. SOLAR SYSTEM AMBASSADOR MASTER TEACHER