{"497331":{"#nid":"497331","#data":{"type":"news","title":"NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden Bid GT-AE Seniors Well","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I see future entrepreneurs, inventors, and astronauts,\u0022 NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden told the GT-AE Class of 2015 during the Senior Banquet, April 1.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I see CEOs, engineers, and perhaps-- this would give me endless delight -- a future administrator of NASA.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBolden\u0027s speech before the graduating seniors Wednesday night seemed to give each of the hard-working undergraduates a little boost of energy, right when they need it most: the month before they finish their studies.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027ve been a fan of NASA and you since I was a little girl,\u0022 one student said, barely concealing her nerves.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I\u0027m going to come work for you,\u0022 said another, when he stepped forward to shake hands. \u0022I can\u0027t wait.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Remember to help someone who\u0027s coming after you,\u0022 he said.In addition to lauding the School for its rigorous training of tomorrow\u0027s aerospace engineers, Bolden took a moment to remind the world-wearied seniors to help their younger classmates, whenever possible.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Now that you are getting ready to graduate, think about helping out a freshman or sophomore who maybe is thinking they can\u0027t make it or it\u0027s too hard. You might make the difference.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EBolden told students he was dogged by those same doubts his first year at the U.S. Naval Academy. Every time he brought those doubts to his father -- hoping for a reprieve-- he was cleverly rebuffed.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022I told him I\u0027d made a mistake, that I wanted to come home. He told me to hang in there another week,\u0022 said the retired Marine Corps General and former astronaut.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0022He said that for 52 weeks. And that\u0027s how I got through my freshman year.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EAs much as their graduation from Georgia Tech represents the fulfillment of a dream, Bolden urged the graduating seniors to think even bigger.\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EAfter Bolden\u0027s speech,\u0026nbsp;Michael Fifield, the president of the Georgia Tech Chapter of Sigma Gamma Tau, the national honor society for aerospace engineers, announced that Dr. Lakshmi Sankar had been voted as the Outstanding Faculty of the Year, and that graduating senior, Shahezad Virani had been named Outstanding Student of the Year.\u0022When I was in school, it never occurred to me that I could someday be a pilot and especially not an astronaut...I definitely did not think I\u0027d someday be here speaking to you as the head of NASA. So as much as possible, I like to encourage students to look at the skies and beyond when they think about their future career.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf Sankar he said \u0022his door is always open to students in need.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Cp\u003EOf Virani, he quipped \u0022We think he lives in the Loewy Library.\u0022\u003C\/p\u003E\u003Ch2 class=\u0022rtecenter\u0022\u003ESee\u0026nbsp;\u003Ca href=\u0022https:\/\/www.flickr.com\/photos\/117948618@N08\/sets\/72157651724208385\/\u0022\u003Ephotos\u003C\/a\u003E\u0026nbsp;from the entire event now\u003C\/h2\u003E\u003Cp\u003E\u0026nbsp;\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EIn addition to lauding the School for its rigorous training of tomorrow\u0027s aerospace engineers, Bolden took a moment to remind the world-wearied seniors to help their younger classmates, whenever possible.\u003C\/p\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"Charles Bolden gave a speech before the the graduating GT-AE seniors Wednesday night."}],"uid":"30502","created_gmt":"2016-02-09 13:11:15","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:20:38","author":"Sapna Mistry","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2015-04-03T00:00:00-04:00","iso_date":"2015-04-03T00:00:00-04:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"groups":[{"id":"1239","name":"School of Aerospace Engineering"}],"categories":[{"id":"136","name":"Aerospace"},{"id":"133","name":"Special Events and Guest Speakers"},{"id":"134","name":"Student and Faculty"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"}],"keywords":[{"id":"2082","name":"aerospace engineering"},{"id":"171661","name":"Charles Bolden"},{"id":"126111","name":"GT-AE"},{"id":"408","name":"NASA"},{"id":"167359","name":"seniors"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[],"email":["kathleen.moore@ae.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}