Astronaut Reid Wiseman Returns To His High School To Inspire
TIMONIUM, Md. (WJZ) -- Every high school seems to have at least one -- the student who went on to great things.
As Mike Schuh reports, Dulaney High invited its most famous graduate back to inspire students.
Assembly time: file in, it's hot. The auditorium is packed. A Dulaney grad will be speaking. He was in the Russian Club, played drums in the band -- and oh, yeah -- he spent six months in space!
From the class of 1993, Reid Wiseman has returned to inspire those from his neighborhood.
"You can do it. That is really the message," Wiseman said. "Life may throw you some curve balls and you've got to be ready for that, but just take them and usually those are gifts. When you think something is going off track, that's usually when you can wake up and take a really neat path in life."
In so many of his pictures, you can see his path has brought him smiles.
He's curious and has a gift for storytelling that connects with an audience.
He tells of when he first saw his eight-year-old after six months in space.
"I was the only one on the plane sitting right in the front seat and she just comes running on the plane, right on past me," he laughs. "And I'm like, 'Ellie, I'm right here.'"
Clearly, his message is getting through.
"He thought he could be something in life and he really tried and he did," Dallin Mahaney, Dulaney High student.
"It's really inspiring. It makes me feel like I can -- since I'm a senior that just graduated now -- it makes me like I can do the same thing, or do amazing things in general in the future," Matthew Carbaugh, Dulaney High student.
As soon as he's done talking to the Dulaney High students, he's going to do it all over again to an auditorium full of middle school students.
It was a year ago today that Wiseman lifted off into space to spend half a year aboard the International Space Station.