Sally Ride: The Pioneer

Sally Ride: The Pioneer Throughout history, it is evident that women have been oppressed in one way or another. Whether it be from not getting the same pay as a man or not getting an education at all. Women all around the world have strived to get the same rights as men have and this is seen in different fields. Sally Ride, the youngest and the first American woman to go to space is an inspiration to women all around the world for opening the doors for women. Sally Ride’s encounters in the field, her space exploration, her excellence in the scientific world and her intuition to encourage other women prove that women can do the same things as men if given the opportunity. Sally Ride changed the way women were perceived in the scientific

Ride broke through the wall that sexists put up to exclude women in certain jobs. “Sally Ride broke barriers with grace and professionalism- and literally changed the face of America’s space program” (Granath). Ride showed America and the world how women can make a difference in the world. In addition to Ride’s love of science, she did notice how she affected society. Although most Americans do not know who she is, she is still an American hero to those who do know of her work. “Her pioneering voyage and remarkable life helped, as President Barack Obama said soon after her death… ‘She inspired generations of young girls to reach for the stars for she showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve’” (Knipfer). Ride’s influence is so strong that it has been helping young people to reach for dreams even after her death. Without Sally Ride’s intuition to help others, women and minorities might not have had people pushing them to achieve their dreams. Coupled with Ride’s great achievements, her instinct to help others made her a

The purpose of this organization is to encourage young people to do for their dreams. “To be able to combine her love of science with her deep concern for helping women and young girls to me was the perfect combination of the things she wanted to do with her life” (Moskowitz). Ride’s intuition to help minorities and introduce them to STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) encourages a lot of these people; to see the person they look up to supporting them means a lot. “Everywhere I go I meet girls and boys who want to be astronauts and explore space, or they love the ocean and want to be oceanographers, or they love designing things and want to be engineers. I want to see those same stars in their eyes in ten years and know they are on their way” (Regan). Ride’s program affect the way that young people see science. Most young adults today are discouraged when it comes to science and math because they do not like to do it in school. However, Sally Ride Science shows how science can be fun. Moreover, Ride is the perfect example that it does not take a person with an IQ over 140 to get a job in the STEM fields because according to her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy, “She took Physics courses. She was never a straight-A student, but she certainly did well… A lot of typical undergraduate stuff happened to