The Space Center to Get a New Director! Life Changing Video. Space and Science News. The Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
     The Alpine School District is advertising a job opening for a Teacher on Special Assignment to replace Megan Warner as Space Center Director.  Megan replaced me as the director of the CMSEC when I retired last May and took a position at Renaissance Academy to direct the Farpoint Space Education Center when it opens in the Fall of 2015.    

     Megan has done a wonderful job directing the Space Center.  She is a gifted and talented flight director and excellent manager who is greatly admired by the Center's staff and volunteers.  She has worked tirelessly to maintain the spirit and vision of the Space Center.
     District administrators want a certified teacher directing the Space Center.  Megan is an hourly teacher aide and therefore does not qualify for the position.  Megan is not sure what she will do once the new director is hired.  She may return to school to finish her degree, remain at the Center and work as an assistant to the new director, or work at Farpoint or another school with a Space Center program.

      It's weird looking at this job posting for the directorship of the Space Center I founded over two decades ago.  I read the qualifications posted and wonder what this new TSA will do with the program. Will he or she continue our pioneering blend of science and science fiction, or change the Center's focus to something more Common Core as the district wanted when the Center was closed in October 2012 (and then reopened only because of the outcry from Utah County's citizens)?  

     The District's true intentions will be known once the new TSA is given his or her marching orders from above in August.  Regardless of what happens at the Space Center, it is important to know that the Space Center concept you've all come to love will continue at Renaissance Academy, the Discovery Space Center and other select charter schools in Utah County.  We've a lot to do and I'll need your help, so please be ready to put your shoulder to the wheel when called upon.  

Mr. Williamson

 Lives Change when Paths Cross and One's Eyes and 

Heart are Open...

     Raimundo Arruda Sobrinho was homeless in São Paulo, Brazil, for nearly 35 years, and has become locally known to sit in the same spot and write every day. In April 2011, he befriended a young woman named Shalla Monteiro. Impressed with his poetry she decided to help him with his dream of publishing a book, she created a Facebook page to characterize the writing of Raymond. Neither could have expected what happened next.

Space and Science News 

Scientists Create an Oxygen Particle Allows You To Live Without Breathing

 in the summer of 2012 scientists were able to keep rabbits with blocked windpipes alive for up to 15 minutes without a single breath. This feat was accomplished after researchers injected oxygen-filled microparticles into the animals’ blood.  Read More

Your Guide to Witnessing the Biggest, Brightest Mars in Over Six Years

On April 8th, Earth will soar between the Sun and Mars. When it does, the Red Planet will reach what astronomers call "opposition" in the night sky. Just a few days later, Earth will be closer to Mars than it's been in more than six years. The resulting views should be extraordinary. Here's what you need to know to catch a glimpse yourself.  Read More

How Soviet Artists Imagined Communist Life in Space

Artists from the Soviet Union didn't just imagine a worker's Utopia on Earth. They also thought that the great communist experiment would eventually reach other worlds, too. Here are some incredible works of art and conceptual design that put the Soviet Union in space. Read More

The Imaginarum

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