 Thank you, Mr. Murphy, and this will be very brief young people and guests. We're excited. I hope you're excited. I am Some of you are wonderful The president arrived and in Mrs. Collier school board chairman. Mr. Culver record doctor culver rep Enough mr. Jenkins engineering drawing and Dr. David Sawyer assistant superintendent of management information Thank you Ladies and gentlemen the president of the United States ladies and gentlemen Ladies and gentlemen, would you please remain standing and join the combined choir as we sing our national anthem? school has developed from concept to reality and Now mr. President and members of the audience It's my pleasure to introduce to you the chairman of the Fairfax County school board Mrs. Mary Collier, Mrs. Loves its schools and Thomas Jefferson high school for science and technology is a monument to excellence and In that entrepreneurial spirit which sets our economic system apart from and above any other in the world They put their money where their imaginations were This high school can both state-of-the-art laboratories in telecommunications Sponsored by AT&T life sciences and biotechnology Sponsored by Hazelton labs Malloy labs and FMC corporation Computer systems sponsored by Honeywell Hewlett Packard and Computer Sciences Corporation material sciences sponsored by Atlantic research and engineering and energy sciences sponsored by Virginia power and light Just 200 years later this remarkable achievement of our citizens It is the greatest honor of my professional life To have the privilege of introducing to you the president of the United States Thank you very much. Thank you Thank you all Chairman Collier Superintendent Spelane principal Murphy principal Valrath Walter Culver trustee of the Fairfax County Public Schools Education Foundation It's great to be here with all of you at Thomas Jefferson high school. I Remember telling Tom that he worked hard and applied himself one day. They might even name a school after him actually Actually, I haven't been around quite that long But things sure have changed though since I was in high school But I bet there's one thing that hasn't changed When they told you that you'd have to cancel scheduled classes for a special assembly. I bet you weren't too disappointed well You know, I have to say speaking of schedules and changing things Over in Washington when you wake up and there's a little bit of snow a sprinkling of snow and some ice out there You know that for some reason or other schedules are going to get changed entirely and things are going to be canceled out just because of that That weather and that sprinkling of snow And always makes me think of the young fellow that was telling his girl how much he loved her He said I'd climb the highest mountain to be by your side. I'd swim the deepest ocean to see you I'll be over Thursday night if it doesn't rain Well, I hope that maybe some of you Got a chance to see the State of the Union address to the Congress Tuesday night My message was that the State of the Union is good and getting better all the time And I am really convinced of that after what I have seen in your laboratories and classrooms here this morning before I came in here America is the a team among nations bursting with energy courage and determination We went through some bad times back in the 1970s times when big government policies threatened to derail our country and our elected leaders seemed to have lost the way The American people brought us back With pride and patriotism and with the bedrock American values of freedom faith and family They put this country back on track and we're charging full speed ahead America holds the future in its grasp and we're not letting go because the future belongs to the free To paraphrase Tom Jefferson, we hold this truth to be self-evident There never was a better time to be young alive and American On the way here today. I was thinking of the changes I've seen in my lifetime and how they'll be dwarfed dwarfed by the advances that you'll see in yours believe it or not I Can remember my first ride in an automobile Most of the time has been horse and buggy horse was very fuel efficient but kind of slow If you wanted a supercharge one you fed him an extra bag of oats but I can remember back when I Heard my first sound over radio And I was just entering high school and down by the river where a young man with some of the same Qualifications that you have and an Experimenter had built himself a little crystal radio set. There were no such things as Factory built radio sets. There was a station in Pittsburgh the oldest in the nation KDK a and There we were out in Illinois and finally we'd walked all over town several of us with him while he fished around in the air with a handheld aerial and Finally, we began to hear music and it was this station in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and yet, you know, it was just About eight or nine years later that that industry progressed to the point that I got a job as a radio sports broadcaster and There were institutions and programs and people known nationwide because of the tremendous impact and growth of radio and all in those few years The since then the evolution of technology has become ever more rapid each step of the way Making a better life for man on earth Medical technology is conquering one by one the diseases that have plagued mankind for centuries Biotechnology has invented new grains that are a winning weapon in the war against hunger and As radio was to my youth so computers and the information revolution will be to yours Opening up a seeming infinity of possibilities in your lives possibilities your parents never would have even dreamt of So I was thinking of how far we've come in this journey and the future and at the same time My thoughts returned to the tragic events of last week To our challenger seven who gave their lives so that we might reach for the stars For all Americans young and old the loss of our astronauts was felt as a personal loss We mourn their passing and we'll continue to honor their memories the way our astronauts would have wished by pressing on with their heroic example in our minds and Perhaps a new appreciation of the sacrifice courage and faith that are the cornerstones of our free nation The truth is uncommon valor is often a common virtue in this country of ours America's the land of the free because She is the home of the brave These United States are built on heroism and sustained and protected by it We see it in the bravery of those defending our nation on the frontiers of freedom The pilot landing high-performance fighter planes on the heaving deck of an aircraft carrier The soldiers are on patrol on the Korean border in Europe. We're on a peacekeeping mission in the Middle East We see heroism every day here at home The policeman answering a call not knowing what danger awaits him behind a closed door The fireman pulling lives from the flames of a raging inferno The doctors and nurses laboring late into the night under hospital lights The social worker battling drugs and despair Not all of us are called upon in our daily professions to face danger and hardship But each of us has the same responsibility as the hero To live our lives with honor and dedication To give a hundred percent to the tasks before us and to know that every day our efforts are building the edifice of freedom and Powering the engines of human progress and don't ever underrate yourself Someone has said Truly the hero isn't braver than anyone else. He's just brave five minutes longer So whatever path you choose in life, whatever you're calling Pursue it with your heart and soul If you become an artist disdain cynicism and have the courage to proclaim your faith If you become an entrepreneur, that's a French word for being in business on your own Hold on tight to your vision knowing that each setback is really one more step in the road to success If you become a scientist find joy in the process of discovery Whatever path you choose If it follows the light of hope It will lead you confidently into the future You know Tom Jefferson was a forward-looking fellow and I'm sure he'd be proud of this school Assistant Superintendent David Sawyer took me on a fascinating tour of your computer systems laboratory He tells me you're thinking of building an artificial intelligence lab here. I Sometimes thought we could use a little of that in Washington He also told me about the other labs where many of you will be learning the skills of this new technological era biotechnology optics and telecommunications Let's take a moment to to thank the businesses and private individuals who've worked as partners in education With Thomas Jefferson High School Many of those businesses involved in building the technology laboratories will be sending their Scientists engineers and technicians to help teach in the labs Making the students of Thomas Jefferson some of the best-trained leaders for the 21st century a New universe of possibilities is opening up before your generation and one of the most hopeful is that Science may become the ally of peace Advancing technology which originally gave us nuclear weapons may one day make them obsolete The currents of progress are sweeping us on to safety the technology to create a high-tech shield Against nuclear missiles is advancing far more rapidly than we even dared hope three years ago When we first announced the program called the strategic defense initiative. I Promise you I'll do everything within my power to move forward with research and testing of a high-tech Non-nuclear defense system so that the world you raise your children in will be safe and secure and free from fear Let's let's use the wonders of technology not to make war but to protect the peace is No accident that America is blazing the trail of progress through the 20th century and leading the race to the future We live in a country that encourages enterprise and rewards initiative a country where everyone is free to contribute and all Can can benefit from the success of others Our society is inventive because we're free and Prosperous because each individual is secured to gather and keep the fruits of his labor If we're ever mindful of our enduring principles the natural rights to life liberty and property Spoken of in your Virginia Bill of Rights Then America will always be the shining star among nations leading the world on to a better tomorrow In my state of the Union address I Mentioned another coming miracle of modern technology a new hypersonic aerospace plane. I brought a model of that aerospace plane with me this This is truly the shape of things to come I don't suppose that you could all see that very well So I'll try to describe it for you It looks a lot like the pictures of rocket ships that my seven-year-old grandson draws For those more advanced in years, it'll remind you of something out of a buck Rogers And you might say it resembles a concord that's been straightened out and had its wings clipped But it will make the concord seem slow Taking off from a standing runway it will cruise in the atmosphere at speeds of up to 25 times the speed of sound or Fly into low earth orbit the aerospace plane will be able to fly anywhere on the earth in three hours or Commute up to the space station that we will soon be building and We should be conducting the preliminary test flights about the time the freshmen here Graduate from college toward the middle of the next decade I'm going to give this model the first model of the aerospace plane that we've made public to Thomas Jefferson High School as a symbol of the future that you And I'm going to ask your teacher Judith Garcia one of the ten teacher in space finalists to come up and accept it for you I hope that she accepts it in the name of her friends the Challenger seven is a promise that their vision lives on and That as long as the men and women of dedication hope Courage and faith in this country as long as they're there America will continue to take giant strides Into the future Thank You mr. President I'd like to take just a moment here if I may To commend you for your farsighted leadership as demonstrated by your continued support of the space program And also I would like to express my appreciation For your concern that you share with teachers all over America to provide the finest education possible for our young people It is a great honor for me to accept this model of the aerospace plane on behalf of Thomas Jefferson High School and school for science and technology This model symbolizes the new and exciting challenges of the future which impact heavily on our present Never before has science and technology evolved at such a pace Sometimes revealing answers to long-standing questions But more often presenting us with ever greater mysteries to be solved and new worlds to be explored for example on January 24th 1986 spacecraft Voyager passed by the planet Uranus and In less than one half a day we had learned more than astronomers that had learned over a period of 200 years before The realm of human knowledge is Expanding so rapidly that often our textbooks become obsolete before they leave the press Never before in human history has the challenge to educators and students been greater or more critical We as a nation are facing a serious dilemma For although science and technology have progressed rapidly The youth of our nation has slipped behind the young of other nations in preparing themselves in the areas of math and science We are now making conscientious efforts to remedy this very serious situation But as we do so we must maintain a clear perspective of ourselves We should encourage the study of science and math without neglecting the humanities Our future Thank you Our future in space and on the planet earth will require ever greater international understanding and cooperation Already other nations such as Germany and Japan are working with NASA as partners on the space station on Earth our aerospace plane will enable us to cross continents and oceans in just a couple of hours Bringing faraway countries ever closer to us Indeed Teachers are being challenged as never before as our nation entrusts our most precious resource our children to our tutelage But the burden of education does not rest solely on the teacher Christa McAuliffe often stated with great pride. I Touch the future I teach I Would like to leave the students here with this thought as You learn you build the future Education is a partnership requiring responsibility cooperation and diligence from both the instructor and the student and We must certainly not neglect the vital role parents play in the warning learning process as well The frontier of space beckons Irresistibly to us to explore its planets and moons to search for life in other solar systems and To marvel as the secrets of the universe are revealed to us The courage and the dedication of the Challenger crew of seven Will serve to inspire and guide us as we continue their journey to the stars Thank you So kind as to consent to answer a few questions from the floor at this time. Thank you. I know there is only a few minutes here But how do we handle this? Do I just you sing out with a question or we have some questions for you over here, Mr. President, they've been randomly selected from both student bodies What we'd like to do is just alternate the microphones as the students ask the questions directly to you and we'll start over at microphone one Good afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Mike Gull What effect will the space shuttle tragedy have on NASA's funding? I Don't think that it's going to have any effect with regard to for example withdrawing of funds or not And certainly I will oppose and fight any effort to do that. I Think you might all be interested to know that on the day of the tragedy. I phoned the families Of all of them that were present on there and without exception all of those grief-stricken people that I talked to said to me You must Continue the program. This is the way they would have wanted it and we are going to it'll be delayed for a while because of the Investigation to make sure we don't have the same thing happen again While as we try to find out the cause of the accident, but no we're going to I'm going to continue to fight for Funding our space program and going forward with the space station. Thank you Good afternoon, Mr. President noon from your boyhood Owned to manhood. Did you ever have dreams or ambitions of becoming president of the United States? Or was your decision to go into politics a response to world affairs? I Have to tell you that no I never thought about Politics or anything and if in those years when I went from radio sports announcing to Hollywood into motion pictures I was very happy in my work and if anyone had ever suggested to me that I would do this I would have bet the house and farm I wouldn't and But I did always believe that you had to pay your way and I've been blessed in a number of ways and so in Hollywood if you don't sing or dance You wind up as an after-dinner speaker So I did that and and I I always tried to campaign for candidates and causes that I believed in and I made a speech on behalf of a presidential candidate that was broadcast nationwide in 1964 and The next thing I knew I was being assailed by people to run for governor of California and I thought they were wrong and I told them over and over again. I'll campaign for someone else and They kept insisting that I was the only one that could win for our party in that election and Finally I began to think well if they're right and I'm wrong will I ever be able to sleep again if I don't do it? so Nancy and I spent some sleepless nights and finally I Said all right and you know looking back I think that I said all right thinking only had to do is win the election and then that would be all over and on Back to doing what I was doing Found out I got the job, but I must say After several months of that We both looked at each other and said that this was the most exciting thing We'd ever done in our lives to not just be making an after-dinner speech about it But to be dealing with the problems themselves and So I'm most grateful that I My course changed Thank you. Good afternoon, Mr. President. My name is Dawn Lee The Constitution calls for the separation of church and state and your state of the union address you propose making prayer in schools legal With so many different cultures and religions in our nation's public schools. How can you make prayer in schools legal? All right, let me just say and let me give you just an example that I haven't mentioned the other day On that tragedy that happened last week and that I mentioned all over this country in city halls in state houses In the offices of the nation's capital here people stopped and prayed for the seven who had lost their lives and yet you The young people in schools were denied that privilege to do that in your own schools. I have never asked for a Doctrineer prayer or a school to dictate a prayer or how anyone would worship I have simply said that I believe That students should have the right and privilege to voluntarily pray within school if they want to and That's up to them and no one that doesn't care to or whose religion is different They can pursue their their own courses, but you should I don't think there should be any place in this nation Where anyone is denied the right to appeal to whatever God they worship? Thank you And mr. President we're running a little behind we have time for one last question, sir. All right. I'm sorry. I should have not talked so long Good afternoon, mr. President. My name is Kazala Raza Is there any chance of sending a civilian up in space again? If so, will it be a teacher to fulfill the dream of Krista McCulloch? Yes, I don't believe that this tragedy in any way should affect the policy that we had that space If it is the last frontier and it should not just be left to individuals scientists or career people who are Going up there simply to the explorer in space. There are so many experiments that have given already so much to us For example, we know in one disease Diabetes and so far incurable We have reason to believe from experiments done already in the shuttle program by scientists that have gone up With the astronauts that it is possible if there is a space station to manufacture a medicine That will cure diabetes Already, however from the things we've learned there We are able to monitor heart patients. We're going about their daily work and yet With a piece of equipment perfected there doctor Can be seeing at what time of the day? This individual showed stress that could be affecting his heart condition and Then could say to the patient on the next call. All right What were you doing at 2 o'clock in the afternoon and thus determine? What are the things in the person's lifestyle that are causing the stress that endangers the heart? We've even gone so far as to develop a fabric in experiments up in space that is going to cut hours and hours every day Off the time that fishermen have to stay out there commercial fishermen with their nets It is an improved fishing net believe it or not so we even also have another Implant that we can make For a patient that requires well like insulin shots and this Will be computerized Implanted and will automatically inject in the necessary glands the Medicine that is needed without having to go into an office and have shots given and so forth so know the space belongs to all of us and to the people and the people can benefit and You bet teachers are still on the list to go up. Thank you Thank You mr. President for your time. We realize you are running a little late You have a state department luncheon to attend. We have just two further presentations for you, sir. All right That's present you've honored us here today, and we thank you for coming to visit with us on behalf of our students and our faculty We have a gift to you and mr. Murphy, and I would like to present that to you And I'd like to read this to the audience, so you'll know what we're giving the president and it's a framed inscribed Quote from one of his old friends. That's Thomas Jefferson and it says I have long Entertained the hope that this our native state would make an establishment where every branch of science Deemed useful of this day should be taught in its highest degree presented to Ronald W. Reagan on the occasion of his visit to the Thomas Jefferson High School and the Thomas Jefferson High School for science and technology February 7 1986 May I just say a goodbye, and I know I'm late, and I'm going to have to run But I just want to tell you what this morning has meant to me in meeting all of you and seeing what you're accomplishing here. I Am so much more optimistic about the 21st century And I was when I came here this morning, and I was pretty optimistic then and You have done that and you've convinced me I'm going to stick around for a good part of that century. Thank you Mr. President, we have one final gift from you to you from our students