July 29th was the date of the Space Center's 3rd Annual Olympic Games. Unlike Tokyo's summer olympics, the Space Center's Olympics were not delayed by Covid. They went ahead as planned, considering the VAST majority of the staff and volunteers have been vaccinated.
Tyler Weight was the MC, Referee, Imagineer, Coordinator, and Sponsor for the grueling affair. He wore his high school football officiating uniform for the event. Our Tyler is a man who wears many hats in addition to his Space Center hat. He is also a generous financial donor as was quite apparent in the number of gift certificate awards distributed at the closing ceremonies. Everyone walked away from this year's Olympics with at least one gift certificate to a local business.
Teams were fielded from two of the Utah Valley's six Space EdVenture Centers.
Brayden Lystrup led the Reality's Edge team from Canyon Grove Academy in Pleasant Grove.
The Christa McAuliffe Space Center was the host center. Its delegation represented five of the Center's six simulators.
The Magellan Orange Jackets led by the imposing Connor Larsen.
The Odyssey Sockers led by the shaded Natalie Anderson.
The Phoenix Blazers led by the Calm and Steady Jordan.
The Cassini Saturns led by the Visionary Jon. The "cool dude with shades" on the t-shirts is the man himself, Jean-Domenique Cassini. He discovered the Saturnian satellites Lapetus in 1671, Rhea in 1672, and both Tethys and Dione in 1684. In 1675 he discovered what is known today as the 'Cassini Division', the narrow gap separating Saturn's rings into two parts.
Tyler gave the "Call to Gather". The athletes gathered in the in the Planetarium. There were no anthems played or a lighting of the Olympic flame. I was tempted to produce a lighter and hold it upright throughout the evening but thought better of the idea realizing how lame it would be and how tired my arm would have gotten after 2 minutes.
Tyler took to the planetarium's floor, welcomed the athletes, warned the overly competitive to "chill", gently encouraged a bit of trash talking to liven up the proceedings and described the events.
The first event was "Mixed Up Drinks!".
The teams took their places in the gym. Tyler, James, and I prepared the foul abnormal mixtures of root beer, lemonade, orange soda, apple juice, and fruit punch in the hallway. The brews were brought into the gym for the tasting.
Contestants closed their eyes and tasted the contents of the plastic cubs. Afterwords, they huddled with their teams and wrote the ingredients from their sipping and sloshing. Points were awarded for accuracy and the teams moved to the next event.
The 2nd event was anagrams. Tyler displayed several anagrams of common Space Center words for the teams to guess. Teams earned points for correct answers. The third even was modeled after the old 10 Thousand Dollar Pyramid TV show from the days of tube television. One person described an object or person, or event to another who had his back to the screen. More points were awarded. Afterwords a few bonus rounds were held.
James Porter and I did one of the bonus rounds. I gave the clues and James guessed. We walked away from the event each $5.00 richer and to thunderous applause from our fellow competitors. Again, thank you very much Tyler.
A simulator scavenger hunt was the 4th event. Each team was given one of the Center's six simulators and asked to hid a candy bar in that ship so that it could be seen without moving things about. "What Could Go Wrong" was on Mr. Porter's mind when he again reminded everyone to mind the equipment and sets.
The 5th and 6th events were held simultaneously. Teams dropped small balls from the planetarium level to their waiting teammates on the simulator level. The catchers were given more points for catching the balls in the provided glass. Hand catching was allowed for fewer points. The teams not doing the ball drop game played laser tag with Brayden Lystrup's very cool laser tag sets.
The Olympics ended with the point totaling and the point auction. Teams tallied their points in the planetarium and then used their points to bid on gift certificates purchased by Tyler and kept secret in white envelopes. Sometimes Tyler made the contents of the envelopes known but mostly kept them secret. The auction was fun.
At the end Tyler asked those who didn't win one of the auctioned items to come down. They were awarded a gift certificate to local fast food restaurants. Once again, thank you Tyler for your generosity.
I didn't stay for the traditional "Bombardment" war ball game in the gym. I'm sure it was a true butt kicker as they always are.
The 2021 Space Center Olympics were a big hit. Once again proving that the Space Centers are truly part of one big Space EdVenturing family, all started long ago from a few poster board controls in a 6th grade classroom in a galaxy far far away.......
Magellanites, First to the Donuts
Friday I dropped off the day's donut donation in the staff lounge, stopped to use the restroom next to the lounge, and then made my way into the Magellan Control Room to enjoy watching Wes do a practice 2.5 hour camp mission under Lissa's tutelage. I was surprised to see the Magellanit's mouths already stuffed with the pastries. "What? Already? I just set them out a minute ago," I exclaimed.
"We're tired of getting the seconds. The other ships have been taking the best ones. Not any more," was their bold unified answer.
Yet again, the Space Center teaches another important life skill. The early bird gets the worm.
Imaginarium Theater
The Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience.
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