You don’t have to reach for the stars to achieve your dreams: Williams

October 9, 2013 · 0 Comments

By Jeff Doner

Pursuing your dreams and goals isn’t as hard as it may seem. That’s the message astronaut and Southlake CEO, Dr. Dave Williams, had for students at Pickering College during a special presentation last week.

This opportunity to hear Dr. Williams’ story was awarded to Pickering College, as the top fundraising school in the lead-up to the 2013 Run or Walk for Southlake. The school raised $4,378 to benefit the hospital.

“Believe in yourself and believe in your dreams,” he said to a gymnasium full of wide-eyed students. “It’s all about having the courage to pursue our dreams and working hard, the importance of passion and perseverance to enable us to go where we want to go in life.”

Dr. Williams began describing his foray into the sciences and to becoming a physician. He told students that an ad in the paper led to him applying to become an astronaut, a lifelong dream. He never let those dreams escape him and encouraged students to do the same, noting that as people grow up, they tend to become more conservative and take fewer risks to do what they love.

Through passion, persistence and performance, he reassured the students that they can be who they want to be.

“My advice would be, first of all, find something that you’re truly passionate about,” he said. “Find that dream; then believing in yourself to have the courage to pursue those dreams and go through all the ups and downs, and when it seems really tough to persevere and never give up.
“Generally it has worked out for me and it has been quite a ride.”

Dr. Williams said he first started dreaming about going into space back in 1961, when he saw the Golden Hawks aerobatic flying team in Montreal, as well as seeing Buzz Aldren and his team first set foot on the moon.

Little did he know that later in life, he would not only eventually rub elbows with Aldren, but would also go on to set a Canadian record for spacewalking with trips to space in 1998 and 2007.

“It was out of this world,” he said. “In terms of the most amazing things I’ve done in my life, being in space and doing the spacewalks was the most amazing and incredible experience. In terms of the most meaningful things that I have done in my life, being a physician and running a hospital.”
The two grade nine students who helped organize the fundraising campaign at their school, Cydney Stevenson and Ashley Jeppesen, said Dr. Williams’ message resonated among their peers.

“It was really inspiring and crazy to see that he actually did that and he’s standing right here,” Stevenson said.

Added Jeppesen: “His message was to go through with anything that you really want to do in life. Like he said, ‘if you can dream it, you can do it.’”
The two were also surprised with how much their school raised in order to make the visit from Dr. Williams possible.

“It was just an idea that we were throwing around and then I was kind of shocked at how an idea happened and came together,” Jeppesen said.
“We were really shocked with how much money we raised. Our goal was $400 and we raised over $4,000, so that was really awesome.”
Dr. Williams also had some kind words for Pickering College and its hardworking students.

“I think what’s really exciting about Pickering College is their new approach and talking about becoming courageous agents of change,” he said. “When we think about all the kids that are here today, they are truly the next generation and they’re going to be the next ones going out and confronting the challenges that we all have to deal with and it’s very exciting to be able to share my experiences with them.”