Had a nice visit -- albeit short -- with an old friend yesterday. Astronaut Barbara Morgan was in town to address assemblies and visit classrooms at Hoover High School, where we graduated so many years ago. Barbara was originally training for the Teacher in Space program, and served as the backup for teacher Christa McAuliffe, who was lost with six other astronauts in the Challenger accident in 1986.
Twenty-one years later, this time as a full-fledged astronaut, Barb got her ride in space on the shuttle Endeavour. She gave the students at Hoover a glimpse of what it was like, showing and narrating a video of the trip. I was struck by the relative quiet in the assembly hall -- as anyone with teenagers knows, "relative quiet" is something of a miracle when you've got 900 kids in one room.
I guess that's part of being a good teacher, though.
The real message of Barb's visit was simple. Study hard, work hard, and dreams can be achieved. It's a message that kids always need to hear, in every generation, and it was gratifying to see so many of them soaking it up.
Of course, the first question Barb was asked by a student was predictable: How do you go to the bathroom in space? Her answer: "Very carefully."
(Bee photo by Mark Crosse.)
What an awesome experiience for those students to hear from someone who has is actually living her dream. I went to NASA in Houston and it is amazing what they have to learn and go through to be an astronaut. I was able to see several of the shuttles and it was very interesting. Young people need to know that no dream is too far out of reach if they really want it.