Poems and Dreams Exercise by Jay Peterson

          Sally Ride graduated from Stanford University with a Masters degree and a Ph.D. in Physics and was the first American woman to enter outer space on June 18, 1983.

Sally Ride in Space

Sally Ride: Should I Be An Astronaut

I said, "Should I try to be an Astronaut?"

They all said, "Probably Not."

And when I asked "Why?" 

They said, "Because all a woman will do is cry."

I said, "Should I be an Astronaut?"

They said, "We already said no, but you probably forgot."

Then I said, "But I want to go to space."

And they asked, "Why? We already won the race."

But I thought going in a space ship,

Would be a great trip.

Plus I'm really good with data,

So I got a job with NASA.

Then I became an Astronaut,

And everyone else said, "Well, why not?"

And now that I'm an Astronaut,

Everything else is an afterthought.

My Dream:

       As a child, like many kids, I always wanted to be a professional athlete.  Of course, as I got older and realized how slim the odds were, I decided to change course.  I decided instead of being an athlete why not become a broadcast announcer for sports.  There are so many different opportunities in this field with so many different television and radio sports channels. CBS, ESPN, ABC, FOX, they all have their own separate sports networks with hundreds of different channels in each major American sports.  

    As I covered in one of our earlier essays, my dad gave me my love of sports, and Stuart Scott influenced me to choose this career path, in broadcast journalism.  That is why I chose to major in Journalism here at Ohio State and try to chase my dream everyday.