I did double chaperoning yesterday.
Renaissance Academy held its 80's dance yesterday evening and needed a male chaperone. The students came dressed accordingly and wondered why I wasn't in costume. "I'm still wearing my clothes from the 80's," I responded.
"Those aren't your clothes from the 1980's," they insisted. I confessed that they'd caught me in a lie.
"OK, but this haircut IS from the 1980's." They stared at my head until one of them agreed.
The dance ended at 9:00 P.M. I had an hour or so to kill before my second round of chaperoning at the Discovery Space Center. This weekly Friday night sleeping away from home at a space center is getting eerily similar to my life at the CMSEC during my 22+ years at its helm. Its all OK because the money I make chaperone at the DSC goes into Farpoint's general funds, which provides funds for the volunteer program and cadet club.
Gary Gardiner from Dream Flight Adventures shared good news on his blog this week. Remember, Gary is having great success in promoting a experiential simulator based program like the Space Center in the Pittsburgh area. His first simulator, the IKS Titan, recently celebrated its one year anniversary. Dream Flight has three other simulators in development.
Dream Flight Adventures Partners with Allegheny Intermediate Unit to Support 2014-2015 STEAM Grantsby Admiral Starblayze |
What's up with Pittsburgh? Before I moved to Pittsburgh six or so years ago my only exposure to the city had been an obscure quote from Short Circuit.
Little did I know that Pittsburgh was absolutely the best place in the world to launch Dream Flight Adventures. There is an incredibly collaborative ecosystem of innovators, educators, and support organizations that promote creativity and learning here! If it weren't for Idea Foundry, the Allegheny Intermedia Unit, the Grable Foundation, and the Kids+Creativity Network, our incredible program—which is now enjoyed by thousands of kids—would still just be a PVC-pipe prototype in my living room.
It was two years and two months ago at the Allegheny Intermediate Unit where we connected with our first school partner—Shaler Area School District—and now the program has grown to new heights and surpassed our wildest dreams. The IKS Titan is blazing the trail, we have several new simulators under construction, and we just unveiled a sister product, Mission Ops.
And now, the Allegheny Intermediate Unit is at it again, offering another round of STEAM Grants to catalyze innovative schools in the greater Pittsburgh region. We're pleased to announce that we're partnering with the Allegheny Intermediate Unit to offer Mission Ops to the schools who develop interactive STEAM Labs through the STEAM Grants this year.
Congratulations Gary!
There's more big Space EdVentures news to share. The DSim management team took 9th place in Utah's Top 25 Student Owned Business Competition. I lifted the following two photos from various Facebook sites sharing the news.
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| Pictured left to right, Casey, BJ, Skyler and Brandon |
The gang leaves for Washington DC next week to preach the gospel of experiential simulation based education at a national conference. DSim will have a booth at the convention.
The successes DSim and Dream Flight Adventures are having is a testament to the value others see in this form of immersive education. It makes me happy to know that I got it right when I created this concept 31 years ago. Now, let's see where it goes from here. Remember, I'm yet to come back on the scene with Farpoint, and I've got a few tricks up my sleeve to spicen the sauce :)
Mr. Williamson
The Imaginarium
Where imagination is supreme
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| So why are you sending it to me? |
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