Come Celebrate Honors Night November 8, 2003 With the Ghosts of the Space Center's Past. Pictures and Thoughts on the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center's 13th Anniversary. Those Awarded the Five Golden Rings of Trivoly. Theater Imaginarium.

Honors Night 2003.
Front to Back: Randy Jepperson, Kaity, Stacy, Metta, Tanner, Josh, Landon, Ben, Casey, Kendal, Bryson, Brady.

Hello Troops,
Enjoy this post from the past celebrating Honor's Night on November 8, 2013. It was our official celebration of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center's 13th anniversary since the founding in 1990.  

Included with the pictures of that Honor's Night is the short history of the Center I posted the next day in the Space Center's first blog, the YahooGroup SpaceEdVentures.  What I wrote then is true today. I only wish we could reopen the Voyager, the First Simulator, so those of us who served and flew in her could sit once more on her bridge and hear those thousands of voices from the past. 

Mr. Williamson
February 18, 2018 

Space Center Journal: November 9, 2003
The Story of How it All Started. The Voices Heard on the Voyager's Bridge.  Thank you to the Pioneers of this Movement.

Hello Troops,
Thirteen Years have come and gone. The Space Center celebrated the event yesterday. I remember November 8, 1990 very well. I was nervous. I had doubts. I questioned whether I knew what I was doing. Others I felt had thoughts concerning my sanity. 

Alan Johnson and Brian Twyman Receiving their 500 point Lorraine Houston Pillow Cases

It all started with a Young Astronaut Club and a trip to Japan. I saw a school with a small shuttle simulator and wanted one for my club at Central. Suddenly the dream took on its own life. The little ship Pegasus, destined to be built where the Odyssey is now, had exploded into the Voyager – a new addition build onto the school. So many people were drawn into the project. Great amounts of money and manpower were spent. It had to succeed but I didn't know what `it' was. Failure wasn't an option. I didn't sleep well those first
years. My health suffered. My poor heart never completely recovered. 

Skyler Carr, ?, and Daly Yates at Honors Night. Daly was born on
November 8, 1990, the same day the Space Center opened.

Another new Pioneer Welcomed into the Volunteer Corps

Bryson, Kendal, ?, ?
They got Space Shuttle Patches back in the day

The anxiety attacks, I'm happy to say, lasted three years and ended. I had a building but no real understanding what to do with it. I envisioned a science lab on board a futuristic spaceship but that idea
never took root. I experimented with a scientific mission to Mars. There are people that remember that first school mission. We flew at warp speed using HyperCard controls I programmed. Once there we used a Mars laserdisc for special effects. We flew around the planet learning about its climate and features. I stood on the bridge next to the Tactical screen. My 6th grade staff (2 kids) sat in the control room listening and waiting for clues on when to play and pause. How primitive it was compared to what we do now. After a few
Mars missions I felt something was missing. The students showed little excitement. They were just bodies sitting at the computers listening to me. I was in command giving the captain orders on where to go and what to do. It wasn't working. 

Josh Babb and Kendal Duclos Enjoying their Lorrain Houston Overnight Camp Blankets

I thought back to my days in the classroom with the overhead projector, boom box, and paper controls. Then the idea came – do what you've proven successful. Introduce some drama. I quickly pulled a few of my "Star Trek" videos and, using two of the school's VCR's, I edited an ending with of a Romulan warbird showing up orbiting Mars.  It was a crazy idea but crazy ideas built the Center. I guess being willing to act on crazy impulses is a character trait I should be proud of. 

Kendal Duclos Received his Five Year Bronze Pin

The idea of adding the Romulan scene at the end of the mission worked well. The kids got excited to see the Romulan ship. The little battle thrown into the end of the Mars mission was successful. It convinced me that my original idea of taking a class on an EdVenture
into space would work with the general public like it did with my captive class. I quickly sat down and wrote another mission. I believe it was called "Epsilon". It was a story of a planet in the Klingon Neutral Zone. Half the planet was under Federation control and the other was under Klingon control. The treaty, allowing joint control of the planet, was soon to be reviewed. The planet would be awarded to the government that demonstrated it could best care for the planet's population.

Bryson Lystrup earned a rank advancement pip

The story had the Voyager entering the Neutral Zone bringing a new kind of wheat to the planet. This new wheat was genetically engineered to grow well in the planet's harsh climate. The Voyager had a few close calls on the way to the planet and a few others while
in orbit. At the end of the mission our classes left the Voyager so excited. I knew I had found the formula and the rest, as they say, is history.

Bill Schuler (Admiral Schuler) with the Silver Chalice of Zod
The Highest Award Given during the Space Center's Voyager Era 

Now here we are 13 years later. The one ship is five. Our stories are much more complicated. Our simulators are ten times more sophisticated. Our work force has exploded but here I am – still sitting at the helm of the Voyager with microphone in hand. The years
have taken their toll. I'm getting older and gray but the magic is still there. Someone once asked me If I would ever move on. I've thought about that many times over the years. Sometimes, when everyone is gone, I go onto the Voyager's Bridge and sit under the dim lights in the Captain's chair. I look at the walls. I imagine the voices of 150,000 children swirling around the room - in the very fabric of the ship. I look over at the left wing and see the original staff, training crews before the days of training tapes. I see Jacob Bartlett over in
the corner asleep when he should be doing his job as a bridge staff. I hear Russell Smith downstairs playing the blind doctor. I watch a much younger Mr. Schuler coming up the stairs in full Star Trek uniform. I hear a child's voice shout, "Admiral on the Bridge!" I still see that silly mask popping up over the loft and staring at Security. I hear the screams, the laughing, and the quiet that came from sadness when Blossom died in a fiery crash into a planet so many years ago. The memories are happy and so I think I'll stay awhile longer.

Members of the Pioneers Received their One Year of Service Pins
Thomas Harding ?,?, Jeremiah Robinson (help with the names. Director@spacecamputah.org)

Perhaps some day video game technology will become so evolved that children will do one of our missions at home connected to some kind of virtual reality machine. The computer will play my part, telling the story and reacting to the kid's decisions. The class will sit with
goggles covering their eyes showing them the bridge of some futuristic ship. Gloves will give them the feel of working the controls. Perhaps the Voyager will still be around. A museum they will visit with their grandparents. As they tour the simulator the sounds of our voices and the blaring music with red alerts will mix with their grandparents stories of when they flew the Voyager to places far distant. 

Ben Hoglund Receiving his rank pips from Mrs. Houston

Thank you everyone for thirteen years. Thank you for volunteering hours of your time each month. The pay isn't great but you're helping me create lasting memories that will stay with our students forever. 

Sincerely, 
Mr. Williamson

The Winners of the Five Golden Rings of Trivoly. The 3000 Point Award Given at Honors Night November 8, 2003

Randy Jepperson

Randy's Award. He Recently Posted this Picture of it on Facebook. Glad to See He Still Has It.
I'd like to think it got him where he is today!  I mean, how could a winner of the Five Golden Rings not
be successful?

Brady Young Received the Five Golden Rings of Trivoly

Bryson Lystrup Received the Five Golden Rings of Trivoly

Imaginarium Theater
The Best Gifs of the Week Edited for a Gentler Audience