WEST FORT HOOD — May is Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month and the U.S. Army Operational Test Command hosted an observance honoring those cultures Wednesday.

According to the Library of Congress, the term Asian-Pacific includes the continent of Asia; the Pacific islands of Melanesia: New Guinea, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, Fiji and the Solomon Islands; Micronesia: Marianas, Guam, Wake Island, Palau, Marshall Islands, Kiribati, Nauru and the Federated States of Micronesia; and Polynesia: New Zealand, Hawaiian Islands, Rotuma, Midway Islands, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Tuvalu, Cook Islands, French Polynesia and Easter Island.

The command's celebration featured entertainment from the Pacific Heights Express dance organization a martial arts demonstration by Earl Henderson, head instructor at America's Martial Arts Institute; and food from local restaurants.

Diane G. Untalan, who teaches eighth-grade science at Killeen's Charles Patterson Middle School and coaches volleyball and track, was the observance's guest speaker. She was born in Hawaii to a father of Filipino descent and mother of Guamanian descent. She also comes from a military family, surrounded by current and former soldiers and sailors. Her husband, Maj. Russell Untalan, is assigned to the 48th Chemical Brigade. He is a native of Guam.

Untalan spoke of her multi-cultural heritage and what life was like when she first came to the mainland United States as a girl. She spoke little English and was behind in reading and writing. She was enrolled in speech and remedial classes and classmates would call her stupid. She struggled in school and grew up believing she wasn't as smart as everybody else.

"It's crazy to think that I can teach in a room full of children when I used to be very afraid to talk in front of people," she said. "Afraid that I was going to say something wrong or my English wouldn't come out right and that people would laugh at me like many used to do before."

Untalan worked hard, though, and earning As and Bs in an honors English course in high school uplifted her. She eventually attended the University of Texas at Brownsville and discovered a passion to teach. Untalan was recently named the Education Service Center's Region 12 Secondary Teacher of the Year for 2011. She was the first Killeen Independent School District teacher to win the award, which is given from a 12-county area that includes 11,000 teachers.

For more on Untalan's remarks, including what her multi-cultural heritage taught her, see next week's Fort Hood Herald. For more on Asian-Pacific American Heritage Month, go to http://asianpacificheritage.gov.