As we salute educational achievement in another editorial today, we also want to salute the commitment to education shown by astronaut Scott Altman.

After fulfilling his dream to become an astronaut, the Lincoln native has returned to Central Illinois several times to speak to students and inspire them to set their goals high and work to achieve them.

His trip last week to what is now Fieldcrest East Elementary and Middle School, was not his first. He has spoken to children there before - and he attended fourth and fifth grades in Wenona.

He has also spoken to students in El Paso High School and El Paso-Gridley Junior High School, where a former classmate is a teacher. And he has addressed students at Pekin High School, where Altman graduated in 1977.

Altman's visits to these schools are - in many ways - as valuable as his trips into space. He gives students a real-life example of dreaming big and working to fulfill those dreams.