Our Farpoint Voyager Club held a general membership meeting today at Lakeview Academy in Saratoga Springs. DSim's Casey Voeks and BJ Warner were our guest speakers. Casey outlined DSim's goals for the coming year. He spoke about the company's growth, with seven ships currently in operation, another under construction, and several more in various stages of discussion. He stressed that all companies must focus on their core values and purpose.
BJ Warner shared several screen shots of DSim's new top secret simulator station controls currently in development. Our cadets were the first to see them outside a few core individuals within the company. Impressive is an understatement. They are expected to be installed in DSim's simulators before March 1.
The cadets were given a tour of Lakeview Academy's Leo simulator. A few of our cadets are pictured above just as they exited the ship. Mr. Mark Daymont, a long time contributor to The Troubadour's Space and Science News section, maneuvered into the shot and conducted a semi-successful photobomb.
This picture of several of the cadets outside the Leo genuinely represents their 'cheery' attitude. Our Farpoint Voyager cadets are generally a happy, talented bunch on their good days and wild on their worst. Today was an insane day. Seeing a simulator you've never seen before fires up the imagination. Young adults are pretty good at keeping the lid on tight. Younglings like the ones above need time to chill. We had to leave this bunch outside the ship until they chilled appropriately. I had them picture their favorite furry pet. "See yourself holding and loving it. THEN SEE IT UNDER THE TIRE OF A PASSING CAR!" That calmed them down to the point where we could let them into the simulator and trust that nothing would be broken.
The more reserved of the group were inside the ship.
The older, calmer cadets posed for their portrait inside the Leo while the younglings worked through my attitude adjustment story outside.
I want to thank Dakota (the young man in yellow) for providing my pay for the day. "I'm not paid a dime to be here," I explained to the cadets during our meeting. "All of the adults you see here today do this as volunteers because we see the value of experiential learning and want to make it available to everyone."
Dakota came up to me during the a break. "Here," he said, "you're paid to be here now." A bright shiny dime was in his outstretched hand. I took the dime and thanked him for the compensation.
An idea came to mind. "I'm not paid ten dollars to be here," I announced to the cadets hoping someone would follow up on Dakota's offering and cough up a ten dollar bill. It was a risk that didn't pay off.
It was a bit crowded on the Leo's bridge but we managed to almost squeeze in.
The Medical, Instrumentation, and Engineering cadets broke off from the pack to meet with their advisors for the last 45 minutes of the meeting. The rest of the group joined me for a tour of the school. We were impressed with the school but wonder about some of the students. Their ghoulish Halloween self portraits show truly twisted minds :)
Thank you to all the cadets and adult advisors who attended today's membership meeting. Another is scheduled for December 13th so mark your calendars and watch for further announcements.
Mr. Williamson
The Imaginarium
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