October Sky Speech

October sky speech pt.1

Welcome everyone to our last day in this school, most of us have known and grew up in this school for the past 4 years. Most of you guys already know who I am, but for those who don’t my name is Homer Hickam I am a student of Ms. Riley’s science class. Today I stand before you all as a more confident and mature individual than I was when I first arrived. Who knew that witnessing the sputnik soar through the cool October sky, would spark such a profound interest in me. the single event inspired me to launch a rocket of my own, that would ignite the light of a greater vision. The first rocket I launched blew up my mom’s fence, but it was mistakes like these that helped us understand what we are doing wrong and we came a long way since then. This interest influenced my life greatly and has guided me closer to finding my identity, even the profession I desired to pursue in my future.

Growing up in coal wood it has taught me many great things, but has also been one of the greatest obstacles I’ve had to overcome. Growing up in this town most of us were told what our future professions will be and that was to work in the mine. Its easy to fall under what’s expected of you other than what you truly want in your life or as some may call “destiny” and continue the work our fathers will eventually leave behind for us. As passionate as my father is about mining coal I knew right off the bat that that was not something I wanted to keep doing for the rest of my days. This town and the people in it has given us the impression that this is all we will come to know, as if there isn’t anything beyond these walls for small town kids like us. Ill be honest there was a time when circumstances made me quit rocket building and forced me to go work in the mine. I was told that rocket building was only a hobby and that it wouldn’t get me anywhere in my life. After hearing people tell me this continuously I began to believe it, self doubt is by far the biggest obstacle I has to overcome. Also one of the hardest things I had to do was go against the wishes of my father who wanted me to follow into his footsteps. I belived that that was the only way I could make him pround. I had a desire, a passion, a vision so deep for rocket building and I knew that if I didn’t belive in myself no one else would. The more my friends and I advanced with our materials and teqniches, the more our confidence grew. I eventually learned it didn’t matter if anyone understood my vision, because it was my journey to follow not theirs. This realization lead me to what I consider to be my greatest triumph.