Last man to step foot on the moon wraps up CI week

For the final talk of CI Week, students got to hear from Captain Eugene Cernan; the last man to set foot upon the moon.
Cernan spoke to students about his trip on the moon and the journey that he took to get to that point. He also made a few mentions about dreams during the speech.
“Today’s generation of dreamers, comes tomorrows generation of do-ers. You can do anything your heart wants to do,” said Cernan.
He talked about his dad and some of the things that his dad made him do that he did not want to do.
“My dad never had a chance to finish high school, never went to college, so his dream was for me to get the finest education that he could afford me to get and he chose Purdue,”Cernan said.
“I really think that it was at that point in my life that I made those first steps to the moon.”
After graduating from Purdue he went into the Navy, and then a few years later after he had gotten married, he received the phone call that the Navy wanted him to volunteer for NASA.
“I said, ‘What? I didn’t apply for the space program,” Cernan said.
So he thought that it was a little learning experience, and he didn’t realize at first that the people from the Navy were serious about him going to NASA, but after he went to an old hotel called the Rice Hotel where they conducted a bunch of tests. A few weeks later, he got a call from the person who would be his boss, and the person said we still have a job for you if you still want it. He ended up being the youngest American to fly into space.
“Am I proud of that, yes I’m proud of that but why me, there were a lot of people that was qualified or more qualifed certainly than I was and the only reason I tell you this story is never shortchange yourself,” said Cernan.
“If you’re afraid to try, you’ll never know how good you can be,” Cernan. “Just try your best; you’re not going to be better  than everyone and everything.”
Also a word of advice from Cernan: duct tape, never leave home [or Earth] without it.
From dealing with lost fenders on moon rovers, to being the last man to ever step foot on the moon, Cernan had plenty to say on the subject.
He emphasized the point that we will go back to the moon, but it will be in the younger generations that will go back;those now in middle school or in high school that will be seeing space.
“It’s our destiny; curiosity is the human existence,” Cernan said. “Destiny is not a matter of chance, its a matter of choice.”
Reese Rosburg, a 4th grader from Gilbert, Iowa attended the speech Thursday. “ [It was] interesting. I would say unique. [The most] intersting part [was] on how he broke the fender and fixed it,” he said.
Emma Hester, a 17-year-old high school student from Clive, Iowa thought that the speech was “Interesting.”
Yet no matter what, Cernan inspired many students no matter what age level to go out and reach their dreams, and left audiences with this quote:
“Shoot for the moon; because even if you miss you will land somewhere among the stars.”