Astronaut and distinguished Eagle Scout Greg Johnson spoke to area students Tuesday about his career and missions on the Space Shuttle Endeavor and encouraged them to reach for the stars in today's digital age.
"You must reach for your dreams in a rapidly changing world," he told the students gathered in Pleasant Grove High School's Performing Arts Center. "We need to be ready for this new exciting, constructive world that we live in."
Students attended from not only Pleasant Grove High, but also from Pleasant Grove Middle School, Fouke High, Genoa High, Liberty-Eylau High School and Middle School, Queen City High, Red Lick Middle, Redwater Junior High, Texas High and Texas Middle School.
Johnson is the the director of strategic partnerships and innovation for the Boy Scouts of America and spoke about how, at age 7, seeing Neil Armstrong land on the moon shaped his future.
"We were watching this amazing event that had an impact and never went away," he said. "At that point it was a dream. I didn't think it was a possibility, but the funny thing about dreams is if you discount the dream completely, it will never happen. But if you keep a dream and you just let it simmer inside of you, then those dreams can become reality."
Johnson is the former president and executive director of the The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, where he was responsible for leading the International Space Station to benefit life on Earth. Prior to CASIS, Johnson was a decorated officer and pilot with the Air Force, flying 34 combat missions in support of Operation Desert Storm and 27 missions during Operation Southern Watch. He was recognized with the Distinguished Flying Cros and then selected as a NASA astronaut.
He earned a bachelor of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy, a master of science degree in flight structures engineering from Columbia University and a master of business administration degree from the University of Texas at Austin. Johnson has worked to engage Scouting with NASA and the ISS, leading to a partnership with the Space Station Explorers to support Scouting Aerospace Program events in Chicago, Austin, Los Angeles and Traverse City and at the 2017 National Jamboree. In 2017, he was recognized as a distinguished Eagle Scout by the Boy Scouts of America for his service. .
Johnson spoke about how the space station is being used to promote science, technology, engineering and math education. During the 32 days Johnson was on the Endeavour, he helped assemble the ISS, which orbits the earth every 90 minutes.
"One of the mandates of the space station besides being a laboratory is to be a learning platform and an inspiration platform for STEM education," he said. "About 10 percent of the space station resources is for social benefit, including inspiring young people like you. It's amazing the types of projects that can be developed by students in high school and undergraduate college on the space station."
Johnson spoke about how Boy Scouts is preparing students for technical and digital jobs through the Learning for Life program, which to give students hands-on experience.
"Its not just about what you're going to learn, because you don't know what you're going to learn. It's also the process of thinking creatively with constraints, doing something experiential. That whole process is what ITech is all about," he said. "What we're doing now with Scouting is we're trying to help this wonderful 109 year-old program modernize. There's so many great things about Scouting. Leadership. Fellowship. Having fun. Being in the outdoors. Character. What we're adding to that is the notion of we are living in the digital age. Increases in technology are going up exponentially, not linear, but it's going crazy. So we want some of the Scouting to adjust to our changing world and we are doing that in a number of different ways."
Locally, the Caddo Area Council of Boy Scouts offers the Exploring Post and have partnered with health care and STEM professionals to bring knowledge to area students.
For more information on the program, call the Caddo Area Council at 903-793-2179.