As we enter the first official day of celebrating Black History Month I want to give a shout out to all the gifted people connected to the production of the movie Hidden Figures which I recently had the pleasure to view. This powerful story of women, many of whom were African American responsible for the human computing necessary to send humans into space had me on the edge of my seat from beginning to triumphant end. The room erupted in applause and cheers at the conclusion of this moving experience. Shortly after I found myself in conversation with two very bright African American girls of middle school age when I posed the proverbial question “what do you want to be when you grow up”. They answered without hesitation that they wanted to pursue the field of design, one in engineering and the other in interior design. A few days later I encountered a third African American girl who had just completed a scientific research study as a school project with outstanding results. In response to my career goal question she immediately stated that she wanted to become an astronaut in the United States Space Program. She revealed that she too had viewed the movie Hidden Figures and left the theatre more motivated than ever to pursue her dream. The timing could not have been better for Katherine Johnson, Dorothy Vaughn and Mary Jackson to come out of the shadows to inspire another generation of girls to follow in their footsteps. And on March 2018 we anticipate the launch of the first African American women to board the International Space Station in the person of Dr. Jeannette Epps who will serve as flight engineer. I can’t wait to see what my young friends will accomplish in a world that slowly beginning to open more opportunity for women to find their wings. Although they never left the ground, I smile and thank Katherine, Dorothy and Jeannette for having the courage and fortitude to build the road that countless young women will follow to the stars!