Dave Wall, Second from Left |
Space Center Legend Returns. "All is Well," He Exclaims. "All is Well."
Admiral Dave Wall, second on the left, returned to Starbase 1 Space Center with his entourage for a formal inspection tour of the fleet yesterday. They were met by Jon Parker, briefed on Space Center operations, then escorted aboard the USS Phoenix for launch and tour.
The Wall brothers (Dave and Steve) were the primary imagineers and builders of the Odyssey I way back in the early 1990's. When asked what he thought of the new Odyssey II Dave replied, "It's pretty, but I'm sure the cadets liked my Odyssey best."
The original Odyssey was both a cadet's dream and nightmare. Dream because of the bunks and crawlspace engineering section, along with multiple hatches for frightening, unwanted mission intrusions. And nightmare because of the ship's tendency to draw blood. The Odyssey had a few sharper corners and screws that wouldn't stay fully flush to the surface. We always thought such things gave a ship character; all easily remedied with a bandage at best and a couple stitches at worst.
In the late 1990's Life came calling and Admiral Dave Wall retired from Starfleet to pursue a civilian career. He married his beautiful wife Amber (beside him) and settled in a mountaintop neighborhood.
Occasionally Admiral Dave feels that longing for space. And when it comes calling, he dons the uniform and ventures down the mountain to ensure all is safe with the fleet and Federation. To the Space Center rank and file, Admiral Wall was just your normal Saturday visitor. They didn't know they had a genuine VIP in their midst. I think the Space Center needs to issue a special identifying medal to those who helped create the simulators and program hundreds of thousands have enjoyed since it opened in 1990. The young volunteers, supervisors, and flight directors would then know they were entertaining a legend.
An example of an appropriate greeting |
Mr. Williamson
Meet InfinD's Three Master Sergeants (after all, it's the Master Sergeants who really run the place, don't they?)
Master Sergeant Sarah and Master Sergeant Rick at the Canyon Grove Center |
InfinD's Admirals are thought to dwell somewhere in the vastness of space developing and imagineering the best product in school based experiential learning on the market today. In addition to their development responsibilities, they are always inspiring and directing the staff and interns of the company's three space center locations; Canyon Grove Academy, Lakeview Academy, and Merit Academy. But the real day to day operations of the space centers are overseen by the company's demanding Master Sergeants: Rick Patterson, Sarah Glad, and Brandon Wright. Rick oversees both the Discovery and Merit Academy Space Centers with Sarah Glad working as his right hand enforcer and overseer with primary responsibility for the Merit Academy location.
Brandon and Rick reviewing plans for Lakeview Academy's two new simulators under construction |
Brandon Wright is both an InfinD owner with one foot in the vastness of space, and Master Sergeant of the Lakeview Academy Center under the direction of Admiral Rick Veasey.
The passing of the Director's Whistle: Kendrick to Rick Signifying a Change of Command at the Discovery Space Center |
Rick Patterson took control of the Discovery Space Center from Kendrick Gines several months ago. Kendrick was moved to the vastness of space to provide direction and inspiration, although he often beams down to run DSC simulator missions and check in with the sergeants.
There are great things happening at InfinD Learning (the Vastness of Space). The company is continuing to develop an entirely unique experiential learning tool called "The Module". The Module transforms a school's computer lab into a fully functioning simulator at a small fraction of the cost of building a simulator. If you know of a school with a forwarding thinking administration and staff dedicated to providing their students with one of the best tools on the market for discovery, simulation centered learning, please contact my good friends at InfinD. They'll happily descend from the Vastness to run a demo for your school.
No comments:
Post a Comment