{"id":293,"date":"2012-08-01T08:02:45","date_gmt":"2012-08-01T08:02:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kandynolesstevens.com\/?p=293"},"modified":"2012-08-01T08:02:45","modified_gmt":"2012-08-01T08:02:45","slug":"thanks-for-the-ride","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/?p=293","title":{"rendered":"Thanks for the Ride"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>

Sally Ride
Photo from www.sallyridescience.com<\/p><\/div>\n

When I was a little girl in school, it became pretty clear that I was interested in subjects that not all the other girls enjoyed.\u00a0 I was (and still am) enamored with math and science.\u00a0 Even today, I enjoy a good algebra or chemistry problem.\u00a0 In fact, the first day of my high school physics class, the teacher announced, \u201cGentlemen, we are going to have a great year. Ladies (of which there were 3 of us) not a single one of you will be left in this class before the year is over.\u201d\u00a0 I was just stubborn enough to prove him wrong, even if I stood alone.<\/p>\n

Sadly though, my physics experience wouldn\u2019t be the last, and my education up until that point was pretty bereft of exposure to women in what would become my chosen fields of study with the dreams of being a teacher.\u00a0 The only women scientists I knew were Sally Ride and Christa McAuliffe.\u00a0 I cried for days when Christa and the other six crew members died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster.\u00a0 Yet her courage, to go where no other teacher had before her, filled my little heart with soaring pride to be not only an American, but also a girl in America. My dream to someday be the \u201cTeacher on the Trail\u201d for the Iditarod stems from her pioneering spirit.<\/p>\n

On July 23, 2012, we said good-bye to my other science role model, Sally Ride.\u00a0 I thought she was the most amazing and fearless woman to walk the earth.\u00a0 Sharing common interests, tennis and science, I always kept tabs on her career following her 1983 barrier breaking mission as the first woman astronaut.\u00a0 She inspired me to push farther, to dream bigger, and to never settle for second best.\u00a0 As an educator, I strive to find resources to expose children \u2013 boys and girls \u2013 to pioneering role models from whom they can learn.\u00a0 Sally Ride was that inspirational person for me.<\/p>\n

Last week was a crazy one for my family as I made two trips in as many days to take 2 of my children for appointments at the Mayo Clinic.\u00a0 It is a four hour drive one-way from my house.\u00a0 At the end of a road-weary and draining Day 2, my daughter asked me why all the flags were flying at half-mast in the town we were driving through.<\/p>\n

I replied incorrectly, \u201cPerhaps, it is because Sally Ride died yesterday.\u201d\u00a0 (I have since learned it was to honor the victims from Aurora, CO.\u00a0 God bless them every one.)\u00a0 My daughter had no idea who Dr. Ride was. I shared my story of how Sally Ride (along with\u00a0Christa McAuliffe) was my role model in a time when women role models were not the norm, especially in the things I loved. \u00a0Hearing my enthusiasm and passion, my daughter learned a little bit about what inspired me in future career choices\u00a0when I was her age.\u00a0 Her response was priceless, \u201cWow! Mom, she sounds like an amazing person!\u201d<\/p>\n

Whomever Erin chooses to be her inspiration, hopefully she finds someone, like me, who encourages her to hook her dreams to the stars and to enjoy the ride.\u00a0 So long, Sally \u2013 you will truly be missed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When I was a little girl in school, it became pretty clear that I was interested in subjects that not all the other girls enjoyed.\u00a0 I was (and still am) enamored with math and science.\u00a0 Even today, I enjoy a good algebra or chemistry problem.\u00a0 In fact, the first day of my high school physics […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[312,392,541,544,548],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/293\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.realsweetgrace.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}