 One said some succeed by what they know, some by what they do, and few by what they are. Clearly our 10 finalists have succeeded in all three categories. They've demonstrated that they're winners, and we're very proud of these 10 young men and women. Given that this is such an extraordinary group, it was not easy to decide who gets to fly in the shuttle next January. Our first citizen, private citizen in space. But I'm confident that when the shuttle lifts off, our winning candidate will soar with it right into the hearts and minds of young people around the country, indeed, around the world. We've won one, I think, for American teachers everywhere, and also all Americans. Our final decision was based on who best met the criteria we laid out at the beginning. Originality and creativity, dedication to the teaching profession, a high degree of community involvement, and an ability to communicate the spaceflight experience. We aim to keep our winner and backup candidate very busy in the coming months, training for the flight. We also will ask the other eight finalists to get involved in the space program as well, mainly because we think they're all too good to let them get away. Over the coming weeks, we'll use their talents to help design lessons and demonstrations on spaceflight to be conducted by the winning candidate aboard the shuttle next January. Some will be broadcast live, others will be filmed, but all will be shown in classrooms throughout America. And over the coming year, we aim to put them to work at NASA centers and at our headquarters to assist with educational endeavors and activities. At NASA, we have always believed that we must aim high if we are to reach the stars. We are continuing in that tradition with the Teacher in Space Project. With it, we hope to communicate to the millions of young people throughout America some of the wonders and mysteries of spaceflight. We also hope to help to restore prestige to something of which it's been robbed a little bit in recent years. We also hope to strengthen our ties to the educational community to ensure that our high adventure in space will continue to inspire young people everywhere. Over the past few weeks, our ten finalists have lived and worked together. They've endured exhaustive and really extensive mental and physical tests and a battery of interviews. They've been interviewed more times than you can imagine. And just as we have gotten to know them inside out so they have gotten to know each other as well. They were competitors, of course, but I think they have now become a family. In my final word to them, I would like to offer them Shakespeare's advice. Do as adversaries, do in law, strive mightily, but then eat and drink as friends. And may you always remain friends always, and I think you shall, having had this common experience. Now I have the honor and privilege to introduce to you the Vice President of the United States, Mr. George Bush, who will announce our winners. Well, we're here today to announce the first private citizen passenger in the history of spaceflight. The President said last August that this passenger would be one of America's finest, a teacher. Well, since then, as we've heard, NASA, with the help of the heads of our state school systems, has searched the nation for a teacher with the right stuff. Really, there are thousands, thousands of teachers with the right stuff, and they're committed to quality and education, to teaching their students the basics, reading, writing, mathematics, science, literature, history, to teaching the foundations of our cultural heritage, and to teaching the values that guide us as Americans, and to teaching that important but difficult to obtain quality clarity of thought. We're honoring all those teachers of merit today, and we're doing something else. Because the finalists here with me and the more than 100 semi-finalists will all in the months ahead serve, as Jim has said, as a link between NASA and the nation's school system. These teachers have all received special NASA training to pass on to other teachers and to their students, and together they and NASA will be a part of an exciting partnership for quality and education. So let me tell you now who our teacher in space will be, and let me say I thought I was a world traveler, but this tops anything I've tried. And first the backup teacher who will make the flight if the winner can't, Barbara Morgan of the McCall-Donnelly Elementary School in McCall, Idaho. Barbara has been a teacher for 11 years. She first taught on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana. She currently teaches second grade. Congratulations. And we have a little thing for you. And the winner, the teacher who will be going into space, Christa McAuliffe. Or is that you? Christa teaches in Concord High School in Concord, New Hampshire. She teaches high school social studies. She's been teaching for 12 years. She plans to keep a journal of her experiences in space. She said that, and here's the quote, just as the pioneer travelers of the Conestoga Wagon days kept personal journeys, I as a space traveler would do the same. Well, I'm personally looking forward to reading that journal someday. And by the way, Christa, while you're in the program, Concord High, obviously, will need substitute teachers to fill in. And it's only right that we provide one of these substitutes. So the first class you miss, your substitute will be my dear friend and the President's, Bill Bennett, the Secretary of Education. So congratulations to all of you. Good luck, Christa. God bless all of you. Thank you very much for coming. And you too get one of these. It's not often that a teacher is at a loss for words. I know my students wouldn't think so. I've made nine wonderful friends over the last two weeks. And when that shuttle goes, they might do one body. But there's going to be 10 souls that I'm taking with me. Thank you. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir. Thank you, Mr. Vice President, and thank you all.