Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School Speaker Series Launched

As the second speaker in the series, Astronaut Dr. Story Musgrave gave an out-of-this-world address to students at Saint Stephen’s.

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School students listened intently last week when former NASA astronaut and accomplished businessman Dr. Story Musgrave gave them the speech of a lifetime.

Musgrave spoke to the students as part of Saint Stephen’s S4 speaker series, which is intended to give students and the community a chance to hear from experts in many different fields. During the series, students will hear from other world-renown speakers including a former NBA player, an award-winning spoken word poet, and an award-winning music composer who worked on pieces for “Mad Men” and “Burn Notice”, among other talented individuals. This is the first year of the series, and the school plans to continue the event annually, made possible by sponsorships from the Saint Stephen’s Community Thrift Shop and the School’s Parent’s Association.

Born in 1935 on a dairy farm, Dr. Musgrave said he realized early on that everything in his life happened for a reason, and that in order to be successful, he would have to learn every skill he possibly could. He learned how to build and fix machines because of his farming background, and used that knowledge after leaving high school to join the Marine Corps to experience what life had to offer. After becoming skilled in many areas, he continued to take advantage of every opportunity that presented itself.

“Do you all know what fun is?” he asked the group of about 75 upper school students. “If you don’t do something in life that you enjoy, you won’t do it well. If you are having fun, you’ll be passionate and work hard,” said Dr. Musgrave, as the students at Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School hung on every word. “Do what you are good at. In college, you’ll have to do a lot of things you’re not good at, and that’s fine. You’ll learn skills that you will need later on, even if it may not seem like it. Then, when you’re out of college, forget about what you’re not great at, and focus on something you love. Just never forget, that the hands that fixed a tractor when I was young, are the same hands that repaired a telescope in space. Did I know that would happen? No. But I didn’t give up, and neither should you.”

The students were entranced by the astronaut’s ability to relate to where they are in life, and his advice about future careers and goals. “What skills do I have to offer the world? What makes me different? Where do I want to go, and what do I need to get there? That’s what you need to ask yourself,” Dr. Musgrave advised. “Then, learn from people. Try to do things right, and try hard at whatever you do. I worked on one of the first computers; it was the most powerful computer out there! I had no idea what I was doing, but no one else did either, so we did our best to learn. It all worked out alright, because I listened, I learned and I tried.”

Ending the speech with a very inspirational thought, Dr. Musgrave gave the students one last piece of valuable information. “If you don’t think you can do it, you won’t be able to do it. There’s power in positive thinking,” stated the 80-year-old. “When I was chosen for NASA, I was one of 6,000 people who applied, and only 10 got in the program. I was one of those 10 people. I was just a farm boy from Michigan who grew up fixing tractors and bailing hay. Never underestimate yourselves, and you’ll go far.”

Dr. Story Musgrave, a NASA astronaut for over 30 years has built up quite a resume which includes his history on six spaceflights, performing the first shuttle spacewalk, piloting an astronomy mission among countless other space-related explorations. Not only is Dr. Musgrave an accomplished astronaut, but he also has 7 graduate degrees, 20 honorary doctorate degrees and owns several companies including a palm farm in Orlando, Florida, a production company in Sydney, Australia, and a sculpture company in Burbank, California. Dr. Musgrave has many other qualities, talents and experience that make his presentations to companies, schools and the public legendary.

Saint Stephen’s Episcopal School is a private, independent, co-educational, college preparatory school in Bradenton, FL. Saint Stephen’s delivers world-class education, excellent extracurricular experiences and exciting programs like AP course work, the iPad initiative, a band/strings program, a global education program, K-12 daily foreign language program and our Marine Science Initiative, to name a few.

Saint Stephen's sits on a gated, 35-acre campus, which includes a state of the art athletic center that hosts the school’s athletic events including football, track and field, lacrosse, baseball, softball, tennis, and cheerleading. At every level, from PK3 through grade 12, students are nurtured in small classes and encouraged and supported in their academic pursuits. Students benefit from programs and educational models that have proven successful by Saint Stephen’s students who are excelling today in colleges and universities around the country. Saint Stephen's is proud of its rich academic offerings that go hand-in-hand with a strong college counseling program, a wide variety of competitive sports teams, a creative fine arts program, and many service learning opportunities. For more information about our school, please visit www.saintstephens.org.