The astronaut in the middle of this picture hopes to see humans on Mars one day. For now, he dropped in on some students in Westville.
“We study space because it ennobles the human spirit,” Astronaut Bill McArthur (pictured between Principal Eleanor Turner and Kevin Renfro of Hamilton Sundstrand) said on Tuesday morning to a crowd of eager 5th to 8th grade students at Sheridan Middle School. “The destiny of mankind is not confined to Planet Earth. I want to see the first humans on Mars,” McArthur said, eyeing the wide-eyed students.
McArthur admitted, “there are safer professions than flying in space.” But he said he wouldn’t change his career at NASA for the world. Just back from the International Space Station, where he was commander, McArthur said he was glad to be sharing his experiences with such enthusiastic students as Nelson Feldmann, a sixth grader who sought the astronaut’s advice on what steps he should take to become involved with NASA. “Set your goals very high, don’t let other place limitations on you, and ensure that each and every day you do the best you can,” McArthur replied. McArthur talked about his own hard work. “In 1980, I applied to the space program for the first time. Ten years and seven applications later, I was accepted,” McArthur said. He went to West Point. Then he pursued a career as colonel in the U.S. Armed Forces, followed by a stint as a flight engineer at NASA in which he has completed two space walks, 4500 flight hours, and countless experiments in space.
Many Sheridan students aspire to work in science-based careers; science, and NASA in particular, are the school’s themes.
“We’re a first-generation NASA explorer school,” said Joyce Listro, a member of the NASA team at Sheridan. “Fifty schools in the country were chosen by NASA to participate and Sheridan was one of them.” Funded by the Hamilton-Sundstrand Aerospace Technology Company, which manufactures all space suits for NASA, Sheridan focuses a portion of its curriculum on space-elated studies. 
At Sheridan, the kids duplicate experiments done by NASA engineers, like one in which sweat was purified into drinking water. They also sponsored a contest among the students to develop Mars colonies. The two students who won are treated to an all-expense paid trip to the Johnson Space center with their families and a VIP tour of the center by McArthur himself.