Madison Marsh

Think of the people that are Olympians and the work that it took to get into something like that. The people that become the superstars, people that make the breakthroughs in research. None of that came from someone doing something easy. You don't get greatness from taking the easy path. You get it from the challenge.

You get it from the days that you fail and you fall down and you suck at things and you take that and you take your weaknesses and turn it into strengths and you learn from it. You learn from the people that are better than you. And I think that challenge and wanting to meet that challenge is what makes people into success.

That's what gives them that greatness because of that willingness to fail and try and get up and try again until you get it right.

Thank you so much for having me.

I kind of fell in love with space whenever I got to go to space camp. My family sent there, I believe I was in the eighth grade and just getting to be a part of a group of people that were passionate about the same things that I was, getting to be a part of that teamwork, but also getting into like the fun science of doing all the different things

do mock missions, pretending that we were astronauts. I got to be the botanist and just getting to do fun things like that with people that were just as passionate as I was really sparked that desire for me to go to the Air Force Academy. And after talking to a lot of those astronauts there, I had kind of seen their path and how they became astronauts.

And one of the ways I kept hearing over and over again was this aspect of military service. So that's what got me interested in going to the Air Force Academy.

I mean, I feel like it was hard for me to understand how it was going to impact me in the way that it did now. But I remember one of the last things that I got to tell my mom was about how I was going to go to the Air Force Academy and about all of the dreams that I had for myself.

So it was like, even if she couldn't be there with me in person, she did still get to be a part of it in some way because she had known what I wanted to go and achieve. But now I would say the biggest way that her passing has changed me is even though I don't want to be an astronaut anymore, I don't want to fly for the military.

I've now had a newfound sense of purpose in life of what I love to do. And that's working on pancreatic cancer, whether that be in or out of the uniform. And I think that's been pretty incredible getting to have. her loss turned into something that could be positive for other people that can be meaningful and help their lives.

And I think now that I've gotten to choose that path and I'm on a road that now feels more true to who I am and true to what I've experienced in life, it definitely makes me a lot more excited about the prospects of my future versus how it was beforehand whenever I was chasing down this astronaut path for years and years when it slowly became something that wasn't something that I was genuinely passionate about anymore.

I mean, I tried to not show up on the first day of basic because I was really afraid of what it was going to be like to one, be grieving my mom all the way across the country. And I didn't have any of my family, didn't have any of my friends with me. And I knew that on top of that, I had all of these ways that I was using to kind of grieve or maybe keep my mind off of it.

All those were being taken away from you because it's basic now. because it's time for you to focus on the training that they're going to give you. And that was incredibly difficult. I tried to not show up on the first day. My dad still made me go. The second day, I tried to call home and told them I was quitting. And he told me I couldn't come home if I quit, so I had to keep going.

And it didn't get easier from there. I remember, I mean, all throughout my first semester freshman year, I wanted to transfer to a different school that was going to be closer to home so I could be there for my little sister, for my dad. And it really wasn't until second semester of my duly year that I really started to fall in love with the place and fall in love with what they were providing me.

That was when I met Dr. Anderson, who's been a tremendous mentor to me that has really led me through so many important places in my life and Also met my now fiance and soon to be husband.

And I think getting to have those people that supported me there made that path of grieving a whole lot easier because then I had people that I could actually lean on and confide in when the days of the Academy just sucked.

And I think some of it is a little bit against your own will because when you're there, you have no choice but to keep going. And on top of that, there were a lot of people that I promised that I was going to make it through. I promised my mom that I was going to graduate from the Air Force Academy, that I was going to do all of these things.

And then beyond that, I think in the beginning phases of the academy, it might be external, as in someone else is forcing you to be gritty and forcing you to be resilient because you have no choice. And slowly over time at the academy, it becomes more of an internal process of you're going through the suck because you believe in the process because you love it and you love the challenge.

And that's over time kind of what I learned. Finally got to be able to see and appreciate about the Academy because nothing good ever comes easy. And I love that aspect about it because when you're done and you push through the hard stuff, you feel so much prouder at the end. You actually earn something.

Yes.