Astronaut Clayton Anderson has spent 167 days floating among the moon and stars.
On Monday, Feb. 22, he will be firmly grounded in Milford to share his journey of pursuing his dreams with elementary students.
The only astronaut from Nebraska, Anderson was born in Omaha but grew up in Ashland. He began working at NASA in 1981 as an intern, then spent 15 years as an engineer and 15 years as an astronaut. He spent 167 days in space and has logged more than 38 hours in over six spacewalks.
A Tom Osborne Leadership Award recipient, Anderson is now a professor in Iowa State University’s Department of Aerospace Engineering. He loved to read as a child and has published five books about space exploration, several of which are children's books.
Charlie Colon, franchise owner of the Chick-fil-A in south Lincoln, was originally set to speak to the Milford elementary students but had something come up and had to cancel. TeamMates co-coordinator and second-grade teacher Charity Roth said a READ Nebraska grant gifted to Milford TeamMates paid $10,000 for Anderson to present instead.
Anderson will give his interactive presentation to all elementary students and teachers from 1:30 – 3 p.m. at the Milford High auditorium. Roth said the school will also invite the TeamMates mentors for elementary students.
If there is still room in the auditorium, the school will open the event to high school mentors as well.
Anderson, who wanted to go to space since he was a child and applied 15 times before NASA selected him as an astronaut in 1998, will speak to the students about working hard and staying motivated to pursue their dreams.
He will give insights into success through his lessons in perseverance, leadership and passion.
Fifth-grade student Roy Gregory, who is a mentee in TeamMates, will give a speech introducing Anderson to the crowd. Gregory said he is excited to hear from someone who he has learned about in school.
“It’s cool that I get to meet him,” Gregory said. “I’m excited.”
Milford will have Anderson sign 28 copies of his book “So You Want to be an Astronaut” and hold a drawing to determine which three students from each elementary class will get a copy.
Every elementary class is currently doing space-themed art projects to have hung up in the hallway for when Andersen arrives, and a Card My Yard display with the words, “Welcome Astronaut Anderson,” will be in front of the school that day.
In the week leading up to the event, TeamMates mentees will give fun facts about Anderson on the morning announcements. Additionally, Roth and Milford TeamMates co-coordinator Brittany Volkmer will present about Anderson and space travel to every class.
Roth said Milford staff and students are excited for the presentation, and the school feels extremely fortunate for the opportunity. She is looking forward to seeing Anderson encourage kids to get excited about their future.
“It’s letting kids know that, really, anything is possible,” she said. “As an elementary kid, we don’t have to know what we want to do yet, but if they can dream it, they can do it.”
