The movie "October Sky" is set in the 1950's in the dieing cola mining town of Coalwood, during the beginning of the space race. The town is experiencing big economic changes during a time of nation wide turmoil. The space race inspires a boy named Homer Hickam to pursue his interest in rocket building and become an engineer for NASA, the National Aeronautical and Space Administration. Education would be the determining factor in helping Homer, his town, and the nation reach their goals.
             It is important for Homer to enter the science fair and win a scholarship. He needs to get out of his town. His whole family works at the coal mine. He'll have to work there to if he doesn't win the science fair. He enters the contest so he could get away from his town, help his family with money, and so he doesn't have to work in the mine.
             The coal mine in Coalwood is close to completely running out of coal. The town relies on the mine to produce. The people need to start looking for jobs because nearly everybody in the town works in the mine. When the mine runs out of coal everybody in the town will end up struggling for money, the town will have no money to develop, and nobody will have a job.
             The country needs more scientists and engineers, The country also needs to win the space race. America needs to win the space race to show its technological superiority over Russia, our Cold War enemy. We need more American engineers and scientists because people from overseas are taking American jobs.
             Education is the key to success for Homer, the town, and the nation. It is important for homer because he desperately wants to get out of Coalwood. It is important to Coalwood because it's running out of coal and it needs smart people to come up with jobs and businesses. It's important to the nation so we can be more intelligent than the people coming over trying to take our jobs. Education i
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