"You Can't Dream Your Way Out of Coalwood, Homer."

The original group of Rocket Boys consisted of six boys, all of whom had grown up together. All their fathers worked in and around the mines, as had their fathers and their grandfathers. The number was reduced to four in the movie October Sky for dramatic purposes. The boys all built forts, attended dances, went to church, and chased the same girls together. They had all been Boys Scouts in the same troop. Like everything else in town, the coal company probably sponsored the troop. Homer Hickam gave the commencement address at West Virginia University in the spring of 1999. He urged graduates to develop a passion in their lives. To illustrate the importance of perseverance, he recited a line by Miss Riley from the movie: “You can’t dream your way out of Coalwood, Homer.”

“It isn’t always the smartest person who gains their dreams,” he said. It’s the people who roll up their sleeves and are willing to sweat a little who ultimately succeed. It’s simply one of those axioms of life that must be recognized. Perseverance equals success.” Hickman noted that he could not have fulfilled his passion without planning. “Planning requires an organized mind. If you don’t have one, you’ve got to out and build yourself one."

--21st Century Wood Badge Syllabus, October Sky Trivia and Tidbits