Sally Walker's Sally Ride: The Pioneer

Sally Ride: The Pioneer Throughout history, it is evident that women have been oppressed in one way or another. Whether it be from unequal salaries or having less opportunities as men. Women all around the world have strived to get the same rights as men have and this is seen in different fields. Sally Ride, the youngest and the first American women to go to space is an inspiration to women all around the world for opening doors for women. Sally Ride’s encounters in the field, her space exploration, her excellence in the scientific world and her intuition to encourage other women prove that women can do the same things as men if given the opportunity. Sally Ride changed the way women were perceived in the scientific field and challenged gender
Sally Ride went through a long process to get to where she was before she died, and she did not do it overnight. Ride was hard working, even as a child. She enjoyed many sports and was always interested in the sciences. However, that did not mean that she was an all A’s student. “She took Physics courses. She was never a straight –A student, but she certainly did well…A lot of typical undergraduate stuff happened to her” (Akpan). Ride was like any other student which made her relatable. One of the academic and athletic that Ride had was going to Stanford where she played number one for their women’s tennis team and got her PhD for Physics. Stanford was where she saw that ad that NASA put up. The flyer stated that NASA was looking for women to join their astronaut program. “It wasn’t luck that got her the job, but her PhD and academic interests that helped her beat out most of our 8,000 applicants who vied for the position. Ride was one of just 35 women who made it into the first class of astronauts for the Space Shuttle program, embarking on six years of grueling astronaut training” (Edwards). Out of the six, Ride was chosen to be the first American woman to go to space. During her time in space, Ride did an amazing job and she enjoyed her job because it was her passion and she did not want people to think otherwise. “While in space, Ride helped deploy two communications satellites, conducted trials of the
Sally Ride Science is an organization that encourages the youth to follow their dreams. Ride saw the impact that she made when got back from Space and how it affected everyone especially the kids. “ To be able to combine her love of science with her deep concern for helping women and young girls to me was the perfect combination of the things that she wanted to do in her life” (Moskowitz). Ride’s help means the whole world to many people in the scientific world. Whether she encouraged them when they were younger or they saw her on the television break the barrier between women and science. Sally Ride also founded Sally Ride Science to bring STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) in front of young girls who were discouraged from pursuing a career in the STEM fields. “Everywhere I go I meet girls and boys who want to be astronauts and explore space, or they want to be engineers. I want to see those same stars in their eyes in ten years and know that they are on their way” (Regan). Ride’s program affect the way that young people see science. In her organization, they can see how science affects the real world. Instead of seeing it on their homework, they see it in action right in front of them. In addition, Ride was a perfect example that hard work beats natural excellence; it encourages kids and it teaches them that it is never too late to purse