Sally Ride

Seeing Possibility: How Visibility Shapes Who We Become

Translating Ride’s insight into practice begins early and continues often: invite diverse professionals into classrooms; fund near-peer mentoring so students meet someone one or two steps ahead; redesign spaces and syllabi to signal belonging (Cheryan et al., 2013); and audit imagery, websites, and case studies so default examples reflect real demographics. Organizations can report role-model ratios, rotate public-facing spokespeople, and tie leadership evaluations to sponsorship outcomes. Policymakers can expand paid internships and transparent hiring to convert inspiration into entry points. Finally, tell the stories behind the faces—process, setbacks, community—so that what students “see” is not only who to be, but how to become it. With visibility aligned to opportunity, the imaginable becomes doable. [...]

Let Curiosity Lead: Unlocking Fear's Closed Doors

Finally, Ride’s invitation carries an ethical rider: opening doors should also safeguard those who walk through them. Scientific and social inquiry need guardrails so that the pursuit of knowledge doesn’t produce collateral harm. The Belmont Report (1979) codified respect, beneficence, and justice in human-subjects research—principles equally useful in data science, product design, and journalism. Framed this way, curiosity and care are partners: questions set the direction, ethics sets the boundaries. Together they ensure that the doors we open lead to rooms worth entering, for ourselves and for others. [...]