“I wanted to be an astronaut.”

A sophomore was sitting in my class across from me while we were working on our portfolios in class. I noticed he was filling out a worksheet while looking on his phone.

He looked up at me sheepishly. I knew he was copying the assignment. I stunned him with my remark.

“Looks like you are copying that worksheet. How does that make you feel?”

He didn’t know what to say. I continued to ask him about the worksheet. What is was, what he was learning, why he felt he needed to copy.

He told me just to get it done.

I then asked, “Don’t you think that sucks… that learning is like that?”

He smiled. “Yes!”

I asked him when he was little, what did he want to grow up and be?

I wanted to be an astronaut!

I asked why and he said he love space and wanted to experience zero gravity.

“What if I told you you could still try to become an astronaut. Would you do it?”

He nodded.

I asked him if he knew of the Zero-G experience. He did. It’s pricy but if it is a dream… go for it!

He asked what the path to becoming an astronaut would be for him.