Space Education Center Volunteer Receives Lifesaving Honor Medal

One of our Space Education Center volunteers was awarded a rare honor for his brave actions last summer when he fought and wrestled off a large pit bull that was attacking his mother on their front porch.
"Only a handful of these awards are handed out each year (nationwide)," said Delyle Johnson, a local representative from Boy Scouts of America who presented Collin Jensen with the award during a court of honor. Jensen received the Lifesaving Honor Medal for "unusual heroism and skill in saving or attempting to save life at considerable risk to self," according to the National Court of Honor. He was mowing a neighbor's lawn next door on the evening of July 21 when the young Scout saw the pit bull run into his yard and attack a small dog that a neighbor had entrusted his family to watch while she went on vacation.
"He screamed for help and I came running out the front door," his mother Andrea Jensen said. "The dog had already ripped open the underside of the little schnauzer and there was blood all over the porch." When Andrea Jensen bent over to help her son save the dog from the pit bull's bite it leapt at her, knocking her on her back, she said.
"The bites were on both of her hands and had broken the skin," Orem police stated in their report. Collin "punched, pulled and pushed the dog away" so his mother could get to her feet and retreat inside the house, she said. The dog, however, wasn't done and followed her.
Andrea Jensen said she slammed the dog in the door a few times while it attempted to burst in after her, she said. But her son "kept fighting; he just kept punching it the whole time so we could shut it out and escape."
Witnessing the bloody battle affected Collin Jensen's 7-year-old sister enough she had to receive counseling.
The award was a surprise for the Orem High junior.
Congratulations to Collin! This speaks highly of the type of individuals we have volunteering at the Space Center.

The Space Education Center Takes a Vacation!

Hello Troops,
We’ve made it to Spring Break! There was joy throughout the land. I can’t describe how needed this vacation is for all of us at the Space Center. We’ve been working morning, noon and night running mission after mission trying to keep up with the demand. Crazy was one word used to describe it by one of the Flight Directors. I compared our numbers with last year and discovered we are running a record breaking season in attendance and missions run.
Most businesses would bless the increase but we aren’t most businesses. Our Center is run by one full time employee, a couple dozen part timers, and over one hundred volunteers - all busy with their own lives. Many are students with school pressures and teen age social lives
that require some of their attention. The 24 hour day can only be sliced into so many pieces. This increase brings in more money but perhaps not enough to compensate for the wear and tear on the employees and volunteers.
A message to my staff, Thank you for the time you give the Center. I know you could get a job almost anywhere else that pays more but you don’t. You realize that working here has some advantages - we are a really cool place and you work with tremendous people. You are a part of something not found anywhere else in the world but right here in Pleasant Grove. That keeps many of you here year after year. Our low turn over is a blessing to me. Running our simulators takes extensive training. It isn’t flipping burgers. A high turnover would lead to disruptions in service and that would lead to a lowering of quality.
So, in a nutshell we all need this vacation. Rest and do something completely different if you can. Let the batteries charge and come back a week from Monday ready to take the Center to the end of the school year.

Mr. Williamson

A Student's Dream Come True!

There is one satisfying benefit from seating students on the Voyager bridge as they ascend the spiral staircase - you hear their comments as they see the bridge for the first time. Some exclamations are worthy of repeat, if I could remember them. I'll hear something that brings a smile to my face and a rush of satisfaction and make a mental note to jot it down, only to forget a few minutes later. It is like my brain's files are full to overflowing and anything new I attempt to bulldoze in stays momentarily and then dissipates like a vapor to the wind. It is like George's wallet on Sienfield - for you fans of the show. You wonder if my mental stability parallels the condition of his wallet? Perhaps it does so think twice before pushing me too far.......... ;).

One sixth grader's comment a week ago found a resting place in the chaos of my thoughts. I want to share it with you.
"Oh my Gosh...... Oh my Gosh," he exclaimed as he slowly came up the stairs. His head turned from side to side taking in every aspect of the bridge. I was concerned that he would trip on the steps. He wasn't looking where his feet were going. The eye candy of the set was too much for his 11 year old nervous system.
"Oh my Gosh....... Oh my Gosh," he exclaimed as he stumbled right past me into the center of the bridge. I had my hand out to take his boarding pass but he didn't notice. Who was I anyway - some person?
"Oh my Gosh...... Oh my Gosh," he exclaimed as he centered himself under the 1/2 sphere on the ceiling and turned slowly - his arms semi-outstretched, resembling a pilgrim before the statue of his revered saint. I walked in front of him and asked for his boarding pass. He looked at me with a puzzled look on his face.
"Your boarding pass," I asked.
"Oh my Gosh....... Oh my Gosh," he exclaimed as he held it in the general direction of my hand. I took it from him. I looked at it. Written under his name was his position, right wing power. I took him by the shoulders and pointed him in the right direction.
"You are in the last chair of this row," I said gently while pushing him toward the right wing knowing he needed the extra energy to get his legs to move. He got half way to his chair and stopped. He turned toward me and spoke with a religious fever rarely heard even in testimony meeting.
"I want you to know that this is what I've dreamed about my whole life! I've finally made it! I'm on a Starship! OH MY GOSH!"
Although reactions to the Space Center are rarely that emotional, 99% of first timers ascending the spiral stairs are very excited and a bit overwhelmed by what they see. Can you believe that of all places on the Earth, in the middle of Pleasant Grove, not Las Vegas, not Orlando, not New York City, London, or Los Angeles there are six starships ready to take children on edventures in the universe of wonder.
Sometimes the magic of the Space Center wears thin for those of us that see it daily. I find myself looking for and seeing the imperfections. I find myself on a quest to find ways to improve the Center and our programs and then becoming disillusioned when the obstacles of money and bureaucracy act as mountainous speed bumps in the road. At those times I reflect on my memory of students coming up the spiral stairs for the first time. I shake my head to clear my thoughts and then, once again, as in the beginning - I see the forest despite the trees.


Mr. Williamson