The Cyber Legionnaires (Computer Programming Class) Resumes Regular Classes at The Space Place. The Voyager Club's Cup Stacking Challenge. InfiniD Makes an Impression at Conference. Jon Parker's 18th Anniversary. Imaginarium Theater

      

Drew helping a Cyber Legionnaire with a question

     What makes foreign governments question their future security? What keeps the Kremlin's spymasters up at night? Why is China spending billions on new network firewalls? These governments, all guilty of meddling in American's cyber security, fear a small group of young, up and coming future programmers.They fear The Space Place at Renaissance Academy's Cyber Legionnaires.  
     Nestled snugly just to the west of Utah's Silicon Slopes sits Renaissance Academy. Renaissance is a public charter school that specializes in foreign languages and experiential education using the USS Voyager, the school's starship simulator.  The Space Place offered the coding class for two years before Covid shut us down in 2019.  Now we are back with the first class held last Saturday for students in grades 5 - 7.  

     These 28 Cyber Legionnaires meet in my classroom most Saturday mornings from 8:30 - 9:30 A.M.  I supervise the Legionaries but the heavy lifting code coaching comes from my two gurus (the Google name for Google CS teaching assistants), Ammon and Drew.  Together the three of us put the students through their paces as outlined in the Google CSFirst curriculum.  Our young programming novices are learning SCRATCH. They're quick learners.

Ammon helping a young Legionnaire

     The students are enthusiastic to learn as proven by their willingness to return to school at 8:30 A.M. on a Saturday morning for a 60 minute class.  As the name of our group illustrates, our students know that the future depends on a computer literate population. Computer literacy should begin at an early age with age appropriate material.  Google has generously supplied the curriculum. It is now up to schools to make these lessons available to students nationwide.

This year's first class of Cyber Legionnaires at The Space Place

     

From this class of Cyber Legionnaires will come tomorrow's programmers tasked with America's safety along with the development of applications, processes, and equipment to improve our quality of life. Our ultimate goal is to provide America's companies with an ample pool of qualified employees ready to tackle the programming needs of the future. The time to prepare for that future is now.  

Mr. Williamson  

The Voyager Club at Renaissance Academy's The Space Place: Using Space Exploration and Science Fiction to Teach Teamwork, Communication, and Problem Solving Skills   

Three 6th Grade Voyager Cadets Working to Set a New Record in Cup Stacking

     We sure have fun while learning at The Space Place, Renaissance Academy's space center.  The school has 225 Young Astronauts (grades 3-5) and the Voyagers (grades 6-9) enrolled in the after school program. The cadets meet once per month to learn about space exploration, bond as a team with team building activities, and explore the vastness of space in our very own Starships, the Voyager and Nighthawk.    

     The cadets are involved in a cup stacking competition this month.

The 6th Grade Cobra Squadron Trying to Set a New Time Record

InfiniD Makes an Impression at the Future of Education Technology Conference in New Orleans

We were invited to showcase our technology (Infini-D Learning) in a pitch competition at the Future of Education Technology Conference (#FETC) in New Orleans.

Guess what.

We won!

Skyler Carr posted the photo and caption above on his Facebook page. I don't know much about the FETC, but based on its name, there would be no better fit than InfinD and the experiential learning practiced everyday in our Utah County space centers.

Congratuations to Skyler Carr, Brooks Heder, and the InfiniD family!

Space Center Legend Jon Parker Celebrates his 18th Anniversary at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center

A Younger Jon Parker (With a Reasonable Haircut) at the Controls

That's right space fans, our good friend and confidant, Jon Parker celebrated his 18th anniversary on Saturday. It was 18 years ago Jon arrived on our doorstep; a young new volunteer assigned, by mistake, to work an overnight camp. Not having a clue what to do, he somehow survived the ordeal and 18 years later is the CMSC's Assistant Director and good friend to all. Congratulations Jon!

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Retired Space Center Legend Natalie Anderson Pens a Post on Her Life as an Author and Her Books. This Week's Imaginarium Theater

Hello Troops,

I've known Natalie for many many years. She was the third in a line of Andersons who walked the Space Center's halls and found meaningful and profound ways to shape the program for the better.

Natalie recently retired from active starfleet service to focus on her next best love, writing books; and she has written more than one as you'll read in her post below.  I tried writing a book once and got as far as a few pages and gave up. I created too many characters to keep track of, there were too many plot holes I didn't have the patience to fill, and far too many words needed to be written - so my hat is off to Natalie.

Aleta Clegg (Micah Clegg's mother) is another retired Space Center legend and author.  She uses the name Jaleta Clegg for her writing. A quick search of her name on Amazon will bring up her books.  I mention this to illustrate the fact that the Space Center is the nesting ground for many great storytellers.  

Aleta with one of her Summer Camp Kitchen Creations

  

And now, without further ado, may I invite you to enjoy Natalie's post on her life as an author writing exclusively for The Troubadour in traditional style. 

Mr. Williamson 

Hello Friends,

Like the myriad of NASA launches that have been delayed for one reason or another, this post too has been put off. Perhaps it is because I feel strange writing about my own work. Or I fell into a pit of procrastination. But if I’m telling the truth, I forgot where I put my pass to get on the train back to the Imaginarium. A travesty, I know.

The train in question. The conductor is very particular about train passes. Not sure why they don’t use tickets. At least then I could lose them without consequences after the ride. I used to keep extra passes on my person at all times, in case I lost one or I needed to bring a guest or something like that. Unfortunately, my extra passes were lost the last time my reactivation clause beacon was activated. I won’t go into the details, but if anyone finds a bit of blue luggage floating around the peak of Olympus Mons, please let me know.

A picture of the lost luggage just days before the tragic accident. If found, please give it some cookies and send it back to me. The cookies are to help it recover from the shock. Definitely not for me.

In any case, I have since found my pass, thank goodness. Otherwise, I’d have to hitchhike all the way to the secret post box on Wondrium Avenue to get this mailed to the Imaginarium Chief of News and other Fiddly Things.

It has a habit of moving between alleyways making it quite difficult to find. It’s only red when it wants to be red, and that’s usually only when it knows for certain that you’re looking directly at it. If your eyes skip past it, you’ll never find it. Be confident and stare at every brick and eventually it’ll work for you.

What? You think we just email him? Psh. Never.

Now onto the actual news: I wrote a book! Actually, I’ve written several, but when my first books came out, I was still looking for my train pass. I suppose I’ll tell you about them too! My first series is called Constantine Capers and is a historical mystery about a detective with short term memory loss. Every day he wakes up and can’t remember the day before. I wrote much of the first one, The Pennington Perplexity while I was on sabbatical in England, France, Rome, and apparently, Mars.

This is the cover for the first book. My publisher’s cover designer did such a good job!

The second one, Flashes of Memory, I wrote once I was called back into service of Starfleet. And the third one (There Comes a Midnight Hour) I’ve been working on since I’ve entered my real retirement. This book is not done yet but give it a week or two. (Will there be a fourth? Probably. Don’t ask me about the fifth.)

And here’s book two. It’s my mom’s favorite. I think my favorite is the one I’m writing. But that’s only until the writer’s block kicks in.

The first two were finalists for the Whitney Awards, (if you know what that award is, we can be friends. If not, we still can be friends).

My second series makes a lot more sense when you consider that I was practically raised at the Space Center. The series is called The Thirteenth Zodiac and the first book is called Keepers of the Zodiac. It’s a sci-fi/fantasy series that could be described in this way: Take Avatar the Last Airbender, smush it into Star Wars, and then sprinkle in some Indiana Jones for good measure.

Here’s the cover for that book. Ain’t it pretty? Since I self-published this book, I actually designed this one and I’m really proud of it.

Another description could be: “What would happen if falling stars gave you magic powers?” But perhaps the best description is the one I wrote for the back cover:

Within the white marbled halls of the Zodiac Palace, the Great Dragon waits. At the dark chaotic maw of the abyss, the Divine Augury watches.

And on the top of the cascade in nowhere Nevada, the next Keeper of the Zodiac wishes. Serena Morelli had plans. Good ones. Finish the semester, become an astronaut, and watch another meteor shower.

In no particular order.

Now she has a fallen star in her pocket, lightning at her fingertips, and a man named Pharos Everleigh on her doorstep. 

Thrown headlong into an interstellar realm of mystery, magic, and tyranny, can Serena find her place in the Universe before she needs to save it?

Or for you more visual people, here’s a short trailer for it:

Pretty good, huh? I like it in any case. So, last month I decided to publish it. And what better place to showcase a science fiction novel launch than in the Planetarium at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center? James Porter was very kind in letting me rent the planetarium for the evening and we had a pretty good turnout. Talked about the book, showed a teaser for it on the big dome, and then finished it off with a good, old-fashioned planetarium show. My mother was instrumental for distributing hot chocolate outside afterwards whilst the snow made it impossible to see the brightest meteor shower of the year.

A pretty good turnout indeed! Pictures courtesy of my mother.

Something about the dome distorts photography. I promise that’s me.

I’d never done a book launch in person before, and it was an absolute blast! Honestly, even with some things not going entirely according to plan, I couldn’t have planned it better. I’m hoping to do five books for this series, so maybe if I keep a hold of my train pass, I’ll announce the next launch before it even happens!

I’m really excited to be officially announcing my books to the loyal Troubadour readers! If you want more information on my books and what I’m up to, I have a website at www.nataliebrianne.com. In fact, if you scroll down on the first page, you can access some short stories you can read for free! (The Ferengi would be so mad at me).

At the end of the day, I doubt I’d be writing books if it wasn’t for my time at the Space Center. That intoxicating feeling that comes from storytelling using the discipline of wonder is not something that quickly leaves the system. And I’d not have it any other way!

Anywho, I’d best finish this up so I can catch that train and get to the post box. I just hope it hasn’t moved. Again.

Toodaloo!

Natalie (Brianne) Anderson

Emeritus Set Director of the Odyssey

Flight Director Extraordinaire

Voice Actress in the Order of the Silver Microphone

And Apparently an Author. Who Knew?

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Tabitha Long Ricks Gently Closes the Door to Her Position as Outreach Coordinator. Brylee Perry Appointed Set Director. Imaginarium Theater

 

     In August 2018 Mr. James Porter appointed Tabitha Ricks to the position of Space Center Outreach Coordinator. In doing so, he relieved himself from the day to day work of overseeing the Center's volunteer program. That decision has been regarded by most to be the best decision he's made in his career as Space Center Director.  Tabitha took the job and ran with it. 

     Running a volunteer organization isn't easy, and I speak from years of experience, especially during a massive upheaval to an organization. During her reign the Space Center was demolished and a new Center constructed.  With the new Center came six awesome simulators and a planetarium - all of which needed a steady flow of volunteers.  The volunteer core needed to expand, and quickly.  

     In addition to the volunteer organization, Tabitha was tasked with creating new departments to support the Space Center's programs.  The Engineering and Acting Departments were created with a few more in the works.  

     Now, with all that in her "In Basket" Tabitha got married to Matt Ricks, another Space Center legend. The family has grown to three with the arrival of a cute baby girl.  It was then that a little voice in Tabitha's head told her it was time to pass the torch to someone else and devote more time to her family and other interests (Matt does need a bit of extra care :) 

     And so, it is with heavy heart that The Troubadour announces that Tabitha Ricks will be stepping down from her position as Outreach Coordinator.  She is NOT retiring from the Space Center as was previously reported by an inept reported who needs to get his facts straight before posting (honestly, the guy should be fired), she is only trimming back on a few of her duties.  A rest well earned for sure.  

    So we will still see Tabitha at the Center doing an undecided number of things, one of which will be staring uncomfortably over the shoulder of her replacement to ensure the well oiled machine called Outreach continues to run smoothly.  

Brylee Perry Named Planetarium Set Director at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center

Brylee with Husband Jordan (Both Certified Space Center Legends)

     The Space Center's Planetarium was placed in the caring hands of Brylee Smith last week.  Mr. James Porter made the announcement was given over the Center's intra communication system and intercepted by The Troubadour's agents at our listening center near Point of the Mountain.  What does "placed in the caring hands" mean?  It means that Brylee is the planetarium's Set Director.  

     Brylee's time at the Space Center is split between the Galileo and the Planetarium.  With this new responsibility, the Galileo will see less of her so Orion will need to learn to cope.  Personally I think it is a brilliant idea to put a flight director in a planetarium management role.    

      We can rest assured that Brylee will lead the upstairs people (planetarium) down to the dark recesses of the Center where the downstairs folk can be found lurking in the shadows in and around the simulators. I feel assured that both groups will find new and creative ways to collaborate.

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What a Difference We Can Make! This Week's Imaginarium Theater

 

Hello Troops,
Below this paragraph is a testimonial and thank you letter I received from a teacher several years back when I was the director. I'm reposted it today as a reminder to everyone in our line of work that what we do can and does make a difference in young people's lives.  

We don't get a lot of feedback from our teachers, students and campers. They cheer and clap after a field trip, private mission or camp and they leave. It is nice when someone takes the time to send an email telling us they appreciated the experience and how it affected them. Letters like this energized us and make us want to work harder to created the best field trip and camp possible with our limited resources. After all, what are we after? World domination of course........Is that too much to ask?

Mr. W.

And Now the Teacher's Letter:

Dear Space Center,
It is has been 7-8 years since I took a classroom to Space Camp. Of course, I haven't been teaching all that time. As a matter of fact, I have just gotten back into the field. I teach seventh grade homeroom at a conservative private school in American Fork. I am looking into the possibility of taking both seventh grades next year and was excited to hear that the curriculum would be the same as it was the last time I went.

Because I had recently heard about Space Camp, I decided to see if it would fit the curriculum of the private school I worked for back in 1999. The principal was excited about it, so I sent off for information. We were thrilled that the book I had chosen for my sixth grade that year was The Diary of Anne Frank and that the Camp curriculum was going to cover that same book. I set up a date for us to go in November of that same year. Our principal decided that the small seventh and eighth grade would accompany us.

I worked with that teacher to set up the curriculum to include Science, Math, Language Arts, Music, Art, Literature, Spelling, Orthography/Penmanship, Speech/Oratory, Social Studies, Leadership and "Followership" Skills and PE. We started the day school started preparing our students for this experience. Although we used different student books and manuals, we were able to adjust the curriculum.

The students were not easy to handle, as many of them had been with each other for several years, some for seven years! We and they kept notebooks of our work. When the day came, we did our culminating activity and went to "after-school Space Camp."

It was fascinating to watch the class become a team during the two and one-half hour mission. However, what was phenomenal were the next days, the next weeks, the next months. These students had been somewhat surly in their approach to each other and me during the first several months of school. The next day, students who had had hard feelings, negative reactions to each other and to me, had been "re-born" because of this two and one-half hour experience. They were much more positive towards others in class and out. The looked for ways to help each other have positive experiences with learning.

They had a strong desire to learn, to be a part of a team, to look for ways to help me and they wanted to do their best. They were not little angels all the time, but they recognized that they could change and that it was a better change for them. I had
"new" students the rest of the year in more ways than one. Whenever a student came in who was new to seventh grade, my other students looked for ways to help them acclimate. They all gathered round those who had difficult or hard times during the rest of the year. It was a joy to behold!

Since this experience, I have had both parents and students of that seventh grade write to me expressing that this experience was a turning point in lives. Many of these
same students are now full-ride scholarship students at great universities, working on Doctorates. Others greet me on the street, telling me that that is one of the greatest experiences they have had in their lives, that they remind those with whom they come in contact with about this experience and are now "missionaries" for Space Camp, just like me!!!

What more can I say except what I have already said? I have said this in such a hurry that I hope that I have not been too incoherent!!!

ENGAGE!!!!! (as Commander Pickard used to say)

Mrs. Sharon S.

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Desolate Eden, A New Project from Celestial Horizons: See What Your Old Space Center Veteran Friends are Up To. It's Amazing. Get Involved. Imaginarium Theater

Happy New Year to everyone in the Space EdVenturing community! Have you ever wondered what some of the Space Center veterans  are doing these days?  Sure, they retired from Starfleet years ago but they're hardly past their "sell by" dates.  Many are living useful, productive lives planetside.  Some have found a way to keep their feet in the science fiction / space drama / simulation pool by joining Nathan Young's Desolate Eden Space Extravaganza! And what a production it is.  I listened to the first part and am impressed, nay amazed, nay floored by the quality and professionalism.  Well done to everyone involved.  

This is something which deserves your support.  Please read the following update written by Nathan Young - and when finished, join the Discord, listen to the tracks (the link is below) and if possible, donate some of that Christmas money you found in your stockings. 

To sum up, I'm calling the space center diaspora to find a way to support our friends in this endeavor.  

Victor

And Now, Nathan's Update...

      

Hey Vic,

We are SUPER excited to share Desolate Eden, our MASSIVE audio drama. We just put up the YouTube versions this week, though the Spotify, Audible, and Apple Podcasts versions have been up for a month or so now. I thought it’d be fun to share a few behind-the-scenes photos from the production process with your readers! (Not to mention brag about the cool Space Center people we roped into it!)

What is Desolate Eden? First, you can find links to your favorite platforms at https://celestialhorizons.io/.   And the good, old-fashioned YouTube release playlist can be found here:

https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL7zi8NzIpNPYOHBgPaaDgpGHr3w8uUzIS

Desolate Eden is a history podcast from the future, where a trio of historians reconstruct the “truth” behind events that took place hundreds of years before they were born. Note, however, that these narrators may not be entirely reliable. Some of their sources are heavily redacted, and others are – by their own admission – entirely fabricated.

The narrative is brought to life by a large cast of voice actors, an original score, and unique sound design. The YouTube release has visuals that give new context for the events of the story.

To help make it easier to listen to, we broke it into 3 parts – each of them a continuation from the last.

THE STORY (Don’t worry, no spoilers here.)

During a golden age now long past, humanity spread itself amongst the stars. But while enthusiastic colonists were on their way to their new homes, mission control cut all communications with them.

Now, centuries later, their descendants are given the opportunity to return to Earth, to make contact with their lost cousins, and attempt to discover why they had been abandoned.

Desolate Eden is designed to stand alone, so although it ties in with other podcasts we’ve put out, you don’t need to know anything to be able to jump right in. We think of those other podcasts more as test runs as we were preparing to tell this story. That means that if you find you really like Desolate Eden, you can go back and get a more in-depth look at the events that led up to it!

Rachel Harken was one of the people who gave me feedback on the script, providing helpful comments like “ooooh Alice is SPICY,” “you should just throw all of this ((REDACTED)) out, cause it sucks” and “this scene was good, but it could be, like, 100x spookier. Get on it.” Legitimately helpful comments, all the way around! You have her to blame for that sequence.

Rachel from her Space Center days

In the words of the great Connor Larsen when flying “Escape” in the old Magellan, “Holy Cow, ya’ll.” We sent out a casting call on twitter... and were FLOODED with submissions from all over the world. In the course of 1 week, we had NEARLY 1200 submissions. This is a screenshot of HALF of the readings we had for ONE character...

This is what the actors would record and send to us – it's called a “side.” I designed it to serve as a litmus test – if the actor could nail (or surprise me!) with one specific line, I’d listen to the rest of their audition. They’ve got 3-5 seconds, (in some cases, two words!) to convince me they get it and can do it, and then I will actually listen to their take. I could teach a whole class on how to handle callbacks, but for brevity’s sake, I’ll say it left me looking like this:

It’s heartbreaking, having so many talented people to choose from, and having to make cuts based just on how you want all the parts to fit together. Casting is INCREDIBLY difficult for large pieces like this.

Our final cast has people from all over the English-speaking world, from New York to Canada to the UK to Australia. But a lot of them came from Utah! (Though many of them resisted sending me pictures...) Space Center people may recognize some of the names on there, including...

Natalie Brianne, the pen name for Natalie Anderson, former Odyssey set director, as Tasella Lamoreaux, first officer of the main ship we spend our time on in the show, who appears at the end of part 1.

Chris Call as Odyssey Set Director

Chris Call, the real name for Chris Call, former Odyssey set director, as Hession Poctoli, captain of one of the other ships in the fleet, who appears in Part 2.

Nathan Young and Natalie Anderson in the Odyssey

Nathan Young, the True Name for Nathan Young, former Odyssey set director, as Vasan Vandariel, appearing at the end of part 1.

Christine Appointing Emily as her Replacement Odyssey Set Director

Christine Smith, the married name of Christine Grosland, former Odyssey set director, as Zilnara, one of the other ship captains, appears in Part 2 (See a pattern here? No, I didn’t realize this trend until I was writing this up... but I will say, if there are any other Odyssey set directors who want to audition for anything of mine in the future, I’d say your odds seem to be in your favor...)

                                   Jon Parker Having an Idea on the Old Magellan

Jon Parker (who needs to introduction other than to note that he has never been Odyssey set director,) played one of the crew members in part 1.

Lindsey Hatch was a reporter in part 1.

Stacy Harken and James Smith were both additional voices in part 1.

Now that it’s all cast, I needed to give them notes, as everyone would have to record at home. Here are some samples of the things I would write:

I made a binder full of all of the themes. When it came time to score the whole thing, I’d listen to the dialogue, and play along with the scene. The goal was to create more of a “live” feeling to the performance, rather than something perfectly synthesized and static. I’d flip back and forth through the sheet music, improvising variations on each theme, and then would go back through and add new instruments, fix mistakes, and “put some meat on those musical bones.”

What’s next for us? Great question! Right now, I’m doing a lot of reading, research, and outlining. I’ve got a few smaller things (zoomed-in looks at different parts of the universe, like the Alice Corp., the situation back in Hypatia, and the head of the Cyprian state,) that I’ll be producing in the next few months. The proper sequel, however, is still very up-in-the-air.

It took me about 1350 hours to make this over the course of 8 months, on top of my day job. I probably won’t survive doing that again... (at least, not in any timely manner.) And while we produced this for easily 25x less than what it would cost a full production company to do, it still cost us a couple grand in tools, paying actors, etc., so we’re also kinda waiting until we can raise some more money. As fun as paying out-of-pocket for everything is, I’m running out of meals I can skip to make ends meet!

So if you enjoy it, be sure to like, share, subscribe, send it to your nerd friends, leave a review, etc. Also, if you have any rich eccentric relatives who are looking for somewhere to throw a lot of money, maybe send it to them too. We’ve submitted it to some competitions and award shows in hopes of increasing its visibility, so we’ll be sure to share any good news that comes on that front. The further we can spread it, the better the odds that we can do this again!

And if anybody wants to learn more about the production process, the project as a whole, or just say hi, feel free to join our discord server (link on the website) or shoot me an email at

nathan.young@celestialhorizons.io!

Nathan

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