First and only Black woman to fly Air Force U-2 spy plane visits St. Paul public school

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- A retired military colonel who reached the edge of space visited a St. Paul school on Wednesday to inspire students to do the same.

Colonel Merryl Tengesdal is the first African American woman to fly a U-2 Air Force spy plane, known as "Dragon Lady."

She visited the upper and lower campuses of Farnsworth Aerospace Campus to talk to students as part of their 20th anniversary celebration.

Every Kindergarten through 8th grade student at these schools study STEM in a in depth way, which made meeting Col. Tengesdal so special.

The U-2 spy plane is one of the most difficult planes to fly as it can go high into the stratosphere (around 60,000 ft.), double the height of a normal passenger airline (35,000).

However, making history flying this plane was never Tengesdal's intention.

"Someone whispered it my ear when I solo'd in the U-2 for the first time, and I was like, 'Oh really?' because I'm making decisions based on what I love," said Tengesdal.

Tengesdal took the students back to when she was their age, in third grade in the 1970s in the Bronx, New York. She showed them a class worksheet she was asked to fill out back then. She was told to answer what she wanted to be when she grows up. The career options for the boys included astronaut, soldier, or athlete. The career options for girls included mother, model, or secretary. Tengesdal says she showed this to tell the students the best thing they can strive to be is themselves, and whatever that looks like.

"I think it's important that we look at the past to see where we've come and we have a long way to go," said Tengesdal.

Whether students at Farnsworth know their dream already, or are still searching, Tengesdal's message resonates.

"There's more than just the skies the limit, just shatter that sky and be the best version of yourself that you can be," said Tengesdal.

If you think Tengesdal is impressive, you can see her show off how tough she is. She starred in Season 2 of the CBS reality competition "Tough As Nails." It's streaming now on Paramount Plus. Paramount is the parent company of WCCO.