SALEM, Ohio (WKBN) – Students at St. Paul School in Salem welcomed a special guest on Monday.
Retired NASA Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger came to speak to them all about space.
Her career began as a high school science teacher. While she was teaching an astronomy class, a student asked her how a person uses the restroom in space.
Believe it or not, it was this question that not only led her to find out the answer, but she found out that NASA was hiring teachers for educator-astronaut roles.
Metcalf-Lindenburger applied and went on to become a NASA astronaut for 10 years.
Now, she spends a lot of time teaching students all about STEM and how it could change their future.
Her goal isn’t necessarily to inspire students to become astronauts but to chase their own dreams.
“We also need people designing, building, being engineers, being mission control members, being the artists that help convey what we’re going on to do,” she said.
As an Ohio STEM-designated school, St. Paul School is participating in this year’s ‘Ohio STEM Learning Network’s #STEMOrbitsOhio program.
Students are working together to design prototypes of innovations to make life easier for astronauts at the Starlab space station.
