Amid the horror and sadness after the space shuttle Columbia’s fiery demise Saturday, astronaut Laurel Clark will be remembered by her family, friends and coworkers as a first-rate scientist as well as a fine human being. For Wisconsin students, it is also noteworthy that Clark had two UW degrees on her wall. A Racine native, Clark spent her undergraduate career and went to medical school here.

In a moment when recent tragedies and other significant events thankfully seem far away, it is compelling to know Laurel Clark was once like us. When Clark arrived at Liz Waters, she was unsure of herself and yet diversely interested. She kept transforming herself. First a zoology major, then a med student and later an astronaut, Clark always belonged to this university. Take, for instance, Ursa Minor, the UW teddy bear that disintegrated with Clark and the other six astronauts, high above the earth.

While Clark’s work ethic and scientific abilities certainly led her to become part of the American elite — a mythical space traveler — she gave due credit to University of Wisconsin for helping her find her place. As a testament to the university’s scientific achievements and Clark’s relationship with her school, two of the experiments she monitored aboard Columbia were UW-led projects.

Everyone associated with the school should not only be proud of what Clark was able to achieve but the means by which she achieved her ambitions. Like so many of us she came to Madison wide-eyed and eager to achieve, and with the help from the university that “expected excellence and emphasized independence,” she was able to catapult herself into the stars.