The Clackamas print., March 15, 2017, Page 3, Image 3

Space talk is out of this world
STORY A N D PHOTO BY ELIZABETH KESSEL
W hat do you want to be when you grow
up?
This is the w ell-know n question kids
get fro m ad u lts, at a tim e w hen kids
believe they can be anything. Answers
vary from being a vet, a doctor, a teacher,
president and even an astronaut.
These dreams may seem farfetched to
adults, but one o f them w asn’t for John
H errington, the first N ative Am erican
person to go into space.
O n M arch 2, Clackam as Com m u nity
College hosted its third STEM (science,
technology, engineering and math) talk
o f the academic year. For an hour, about
200 people listened to H errington talk
about his life and how he got to space.
He spoke about the political climate and
said how he believes everybody is able to
do the same work.
“ There are people w ho are liv in g in
fear o f being a m inority in this country,”
Herrington said. “ That should not be the
w ay it is. Everybody, as m in o rities, is
capable o f doing remarkable th in gs.”
Beforehand, there was a meet and greet
w ith H erringto n and stu d en ts. X a u n
W ilson was excited to buy his book and
go to his talk.
“ H e’ s awesome,” W ilson said. “ H e’ s a
really nice guy, he’ s like really friendly,
just easy to talk to. You w ouldn’t think
like h e’ s an astronaut you know .”
For 13 days, Herrington was on ST S-
113 w ith a mission to assemble the first
truss on the left side of the space station
P i Truss and brought a crew o f six back
to Earth.
A side fro m his m issio n , H errington
showed the audience video clips o f w hat
astronauts did in their spare tim e in
space, from space w alking to trying to
eat floating food.
H is advice to college students is to do
som ething you love and that if students
are interested in STEM fields, they can’t
do the science without the m ath.
From a teenager who loved rock climbing
to now having a P h .D ., Herrington took
what he loved to do and made it into his
career, which led him back to school and
taking courses in relation to STEM.
STEM talks at the college began last
year with the goal of introducing students
to a whole new world o f different career
options and developments in the world.
These talks are beneficial to students at
the college, providing interesting topics
that are fun to either listen to or interact
w ith. A t the same tim e, they teach new
information that may help guide students
to what they want to do as adults.
College President Joanne Truesdell, who
was at the talk, said, “ What Dr. Herrington
was talking about is applying learning. All
of these talks apply something in science
into the learning. So you can actually
either visualize, or see, or touch, hear
w hat that theory actually m eans w hen
you put it into practice. And that’s what
STEM talks d o.”
The next STEM talk will take place on
M onday, April 17, and the speaker will
be Faron Anslow , a clim ate scientist and
CCC alumnus.
Herrington
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