A former NASA astronaut spoke Arizona Western College in Yuma recently to encourage students to pursue careers in STEM. The presentation revealed how tough a career in the sciences can be.
Astronaut and naval pilot Mike Foreman met with students from middle school to college age. He said his childhood dream to become an astronaut took longer than anticipated.
He applied to be a test pilot eight times before being chosen and it took just as many applications to NASA before he was accepted into the Astronaut Candidate Program at the age 41.
“I just tell it like it happened and let them hopefully be inspired that — hey, here’s a guy that really wanted to do something and kept trying — maybe I should keep trying,” said Foreman.
David Zaragoza, a 13-year-old Castle Dome Middle School student, said he was inspired enough to rethink his career choices.
“I’ve been wanting to do computers for a while now, maybe start my own company. But now, after I came to this presentation, I’m also considering maybe ... just maybe ... applying to become an astronaut," Zaragoza said.
Foreman’s visit to the college was paid for by a grant from the National Science Foundation as part of the Rural Community College Initiative. The goal of the initiative is to encourage more students to enter into STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — programs.