Alum Raja Chari speaks to students

On Tuesday, January 21, we were blessed with a visit from St. Patrick alumnus, Colonel Raja Chari. We can't thank him enough for spending a day in the Cedar Valley!

Grade 5-8 students attended Raja's presentation at Columbus, where he was honored as the 2020 Distinguished Alum. Raja spoke about his foundation in Catholic education and his path to recently completing Astronaut Training with NASA.

He gave students six steps for success, which, although he used other terminology, really emphasized the importance of applying what students are learning through the Leader in Me! He also told them that, they may not fully realize it now, but they are benefiting greatly from having teachers that care about them as people and care about their success. Students enjoyed hearing how the astronauts and team members research, test, and prepare for space travel and had the chance to ask a lot of questions.

In the afternoon, Raja visited with our K-grade 4 students and toured our school. He was excited about our renovations and the opportunities for students today. Raja's mother, Peggy, is a parishioner at Saint Patrick, and she used to be the librarian at our school.

After graduating from Columbus ('95), Raja Chari earned a bachelor’s degree in Astronautical Engineering from the U.S. Air Force Academy and a master’s degree in Aeronautics and Astronautics from MIT. Raja is also a graduate of the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School. He was selected by NASA for the 2017 Astronaut Training class and recently graduated from that program.