The upcoming Space Chimps movie got me thinking about space exploration and recognizing things that make kids and people excited. It reminded me of the story of Homer "Sonny" Hickam of West Virginia.
In 1957, Sputnik raced across the Appalachian sky and ignited a passion in a young West Virginia boy. Homer Hickam was inspired to build rockets. Like many kids who have great achievements, he had a supportive parent and a teacher to help him along his way.
He and his friends taught themselves to build a rocket - it took a lot of practice, and help from a valuable teacher. They kept trying, blowing up garden gates and failing time and time again. Finally, they managed to shoot one 5 miles in the air. They entered their project into West Virginia's State Science Fair and won first place. That rocket project received the gold medal in the 1960 National Science Fair and sent Homer on his path. He was a NASA engineer and eventually wrote a book called Rocket Boys which became the movie "October Sky".
Recognizing kids and their ideas and helping them move from "wow, I wish I could make a rocket" to winning a National Science Fair is no small task. But every recognition, every effort, every encouragement is worth it. Dreams, big and small, are all important.