Contact Victor Williamson with your questions about simulator based experiential education programs for your school.
SpaceCampUtah@gmail.com

Saturday, November 23, 2013

Saturday Pictures at the Space Centers. New Set Directors. New Hypnolight Installed in the Odyssey. Very Large and Gracious Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
     A meeting of great minds with higher than average IQs,  extraordinary self awareness, and terrifyingly adequate imaginations, was held this morning in the London Room at Renaissance Academy.
     "Who attended this meeting of great minds?" you ask.
     "Why weren't you there?" we ask back.  You should have attended since you obviously far exceed the membership requirements?  
     The Farpoint Voyager's general membership meeting was held today.  The Farpoint Voyagers are sponsored by the Space EdVentures Foundation and Renaissance Academy. Thirty of America's finest were there (minus you of course).  Let's change that.  
     The agenda:    
     I spoke.
     I showed a power point presentation on the club's structure.
     BJ Warner gave a presentation on the new USS Leo simulator at Lakeview Academy.
     Megan Warner, director of the CMSEC, spoke about volunteering.
     Matt Long, Farpoint Engineering Department Head, discussed the technology behind the
          electrical panels used in the CMSEC's simulators.
     Skyler Carr presented on the reorganization of the DSim company.
     I showed a short video encapsulating the Farpoint philosophy.
     The meeting ended.
     That was the meeting.  Do you see what you missed?
     If you're interested in socializing with people who share your interests, people who think circles around the sheep who go to your school or work in your office, people with imaginations only surpassed by the imagineers at Disney, then considering joining the Farpoint Cadets.  We'll have a chair waiting for you at our next meeting in December.  Visit Farpointstation.org for more information.

Mr. Williamson

Space EdVenture News          


This is Jordan Osborn.  Jordan works at the Discovery Space Center. Jordan has been promoted from All Around Good Guy, to Endeavor Set Director. He is seen here on the Endeavor's bridge.  Jordan waits for you to book a mission in his simulator, because if you don't, he won't get to work.  If he doesn't get to work, he won't be getting a pay check. If he doesn't get a pay check, he'll have to get a job at McDonalds.  Help Jordan stay away from fast food.  Book an Endeavor mission today.


This is Logan.  Logan was the Discovery Space Center's official Shoulder to Cry On until he
was recently promoted to Columbia Set Director.  Congratulations Logan!  Logan's a talented individual, who comes from a long line of talented individuals - all human. Logan brags that his family can trace their DNA  all the way back to the microbes that once swam in the muck of Earth's primordial ponds. 


This is Scott Warner.  Scott was the DOD (Director On Duty) at the Discovery Space Center when I stopped by today in my offical capacity as roaming Troubadour reporter esq. Scott was a long time volunteer and supervisor at the CMSEC until his "road to Damascus moment".  Scott answered the call and enjoys his job  flight directing and DODing (from time to time) at Discovery. 
I actually got to hear Scott use is DOD voice as I snapped the picture of Logan above.
"Logan, you're crew is here.  Get busy or I'll write you up," he said in a voice that made even my 
cold heart skip a beat.  All of us can learn a lesson or two from Scott on keeping staff and interns in line.


The Discovery Space Center is redecorating the Galileo Room into the Prometheus Station - giving the center's entrance a face lift and theme.  It will look awesome when it's finished.  The room was repainted and the old chandeliers replaced with futuristic lighting.  



This is Makayla (I think I misspelt that. Sorry).  She was learning how to fly the Odyssey II today at the CMSEC.  Her crew was in the midst of battle when I stopped by to take a few pictures. She was too focused to look up and give me a smile.  I'll forgive her for that, considering the fact that no flight director likes to have someone asking them for a picture as they try to wrap up a mission.  Jon sat beside her, helping where he could.   


I stepped back from the overhead shot to capture this image of a trainee flight director in action.  Her hands were flying from one piece of machinery to another.  It brought back vivid memories of flight directing the Voyager.


This is Cody.  Cody is the newest member of the Farpoint Cadet Club.  He is wearing a traditional Paklid space uniform in preparation for a visit to an unsuspecting Phoenix crew on their way to study a Supernova.  Welcome to the Farpoint Voyagers Cody!



I snapped this photo of our Farpoint Cadet volunteers standing mesmerized and transfixed by the new electrical panel recently built and installed by Matt Long.  The inner hypnotizing light is used to calm over excited crews.

 

     The flight director tells overly excited crews to watch the light.
"You're getting sleeping," he says over and over again until the crew falls into a hypnotic trance.  At that point, the flight director suggests to them that they've had the funnest mission of their lives and that they must return as often as possible.  He leaves them transfixed until their time runs out; at which point he leaves the suggestion in their thoughts again before waking them and sending them on their way.            The crew thinks they had the best time of their lives, and the fight director didn't have to do much of anything - all thanks to Matt Long's new hypnolight.  Pick one up for Christmas.  You'll be glad you did.


Matt Long, Farpoint Engineering Department Head and designer of the Odyssey II's new electrical panel with Hypnolight.


Matt with another of his recently installed electrical panels.



Matt inspecting another newly installed Odyssey II panel.  You old time crew members of the original Odyssey should remember this panel. It came straight from the old Odyssey. 



The Odyssey II with the new panels visible.


The Odyssey II is even using the Old Voyager Engineering switch panel! 
This brings back happy memories.



Connor and Nathan stare and think.
They've taken upon themselves the gargantuan task of taking the entire library of Space Center missions and putting them on a Star Trek timeline. 
Yes, its what they do in their spare time.
DON'T SAY IT



The Imaginarium
The Extraordinary on a platter for your Saturday Evening.





For you Dr. Who fans.


A creative solution to an age old problem

A Russian free climber. Crazy - just crazy.


















A British phone box converted into an aquarium.

















































Taking a child's scribbling and making something special out of it
















Wednesday, November 20, 2013

News, The Galileo's First Flight. A Question to Our Readers. The Imaginarium.

Hello Troops,
     It's 6:38 P.M. here in the London Room at Renaissance Academy.  I've already done my volunteer hour for Shelley's First Lego League and am back to complete a few things on my every growing "To Do" list.
     Our Farpoint Cadets will have a general membership meeting this Saturday from 10:00 to 11:30 A.M.  here in the London Room.  If you're a registered Farpoint Cadet, please plan on attending (if you can).  An email about the meeting was sent out several days ago.  Contact me f you didn't get it. Perhaps you're account transmuted somewhere in the time space continuum.
     We have an update from Gary Gardner and Dream Flight Adventures, our sister program in Pennsylvania.


Gary's doing a great job promoting the space edventures philosophy through his Dream Flight Adventures company.  He has one simulator, the IKS Titan, and hopefully many more to follow.  

A Question for our Troubadour Readers

If you COULD go back in time, which Simulator's first opening mission would you MOST LIKE to experience and why?

Voyager? Odyssey (originally Pathfinder/Seeker)? The first Galileo, The current Galileo? Falcon (originally not Star Trek)? Magellan (in the Babylon-5 universe)? or Phoenix?

Send your responses to me at spacecamputah@gmail.com


For the Record

The First Crew of the New Galileo. January 8, 2010

     With very little fanfare, the new Galileo officially opened for the January 8-9, 2010 Overnight Camp. The first official crew of the Galileo are pictured above. Stacy Carroll, the Galileo's Set Director, stands with them.  The new Galileo opened for private missions on January 18th. 
A special thank you to Kyle Herring, Stacy Carroll, Alex Anderson, Alex DeBirk, Spenser Robinson, and Jon Parker AND everyone else I've forgotten who played a roll in the designing and building of the new Galileo.

A Moment for the Old Timers to Remember.

The Old Post Overnight Camp Survey Results

The following is the Overnight Camp Survey posted to the Space Center's old YahooGroup from December 2009.   Remember filling these survey's out when you were a camper?  

Hello Troops:
Here are the results from the student survey taken by the campers at the end of the Overnight Camp of December 14-15, 2009. There were 40 Sixth graders from Mountainville Academy and Wasatch Elementary. Our Flight Directors were: 

Phoenix: Megan W (Razor Plan: 6 campers)
Voyager: Bradyn L (Greenpeace : 10 campers)
Odyssey: Christine G (Lost Throne: 8 campers)
Galileo: NA
Magellan: Brittney V (Invasion: 15 campers)
_________________

The first question: Think about your story in the simulators. Were they fun? Did it have good characters? Did it challenge your brain or way too easy to solve?


Here are their choices:
A = 1
B = 2
C = 3
D = 4
F = 5

Here are the results. Remember, a 1 is a perfect score.

Voyager story's quality score: 1.18 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Galileo story's quality score: NA (Last camp's score: 1.20)

Magellan story's quality score: 1.46 (Last camp's score: 1.07)

Odyssey story's quality score: 1.25 (Last camp's score: 1.13)

Phoenix story's quality score: 1.17 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE PHOENIX FOR TAKING TOP STORY HONORS.

__________________

The next question: How would you grade the staff of the simulators? Think
about friendliness, helpfulness, and acting.

Voyager staff's quality score: 1.36 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Galileo staff's quality score: NA (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Magellan staff's quality score: 1.54 (Last camp's score: 1.14)

Odyssey staff's quality score: 1.25 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Phoenix staff's quality score: 1.33 (Last camp's score: 1.33)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GALILEO FOR TAKING TOP STAFF HONORS.
____________________

The next question: How much did you enjoy your job in the simulators?
Choices: (1 = Great; 2 = Good; 3 = OK; 4 = Not So Good; 5 = Bad)

Voyager job's quality score: 1.27 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Galileo job's quality score: NA (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Magellan job's quality score: 1.46 (Last camp's score: 1.50)

Odyssey job's quality score: 1.63 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Phoenix job's quality score: 1.17 (Last camp's score: 1.17)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE GALILEO FOR TAKING TOP JOB HONORS.

____________________

The next question: Did you feel doing your job made a difference in the
mission?

The Camper's choices were: Yes(1) Maybe (2) No (3)

Voyager making a difference quality score: 1.00 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Galileo making a difference quality score: NA (Last camp's score: 1.20)

Magellan making a difference quality score: 1.08 (Last camp's score: 1.21)

Odyssey making a difference quality score: 1.13 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

Phoenix making a difference quality score: 1.33 (Last camp's score: 1.00)

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE VOYAGER FOR TAKING TOP HONORS IN MAKING A DIFFERENCE.
_____________________

The final question: Would you like to come back to the
Space Center again for another mission?

The Camper's choices were: Yes (1) Maybe (2) No (3)

Yes: 100% (44 students)
Maybe: 0% (0 students)
No: 0% (0 students)

The Director's Trophy: Overall Scores averaged:

Voyager: 1.16 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.00
Magellan: 1.31 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.18
Odyssey: 1.25 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.03
Galileo: NA LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.08
Phoenix: 1.20 LAST WEEK'S SCORE: 1.10

Overall Average: 1.08 Last Week : 1.20

The VOYAGER is awarded the Director's Trophy! EXCELLENT WORK BRADYN LYSTRUP AND HIS TEAM. 

SATISFACTION SCORES:

Our Satisfaction Scores for the Overnight Camp. Campers were asked the following question at the end of their survey.

1. How would you rate your overall experience for this overnight camp?

Their choices follow:

10 = The funnest thing I've ever done in my life.
9
8
7
6
5 = As Good as watching my Favorite Movie for the first time.
4
3
2
1 = The Most Horrible, Boring time I've ever had.

The students are asked to rate the overall camp experience on that
scale. They are given verbal instructions on the rating system to
insure comprehension.

Here are the results for today's overnight camp.

Voyager: This Week: 8.73 Last Week: 9.90
Galileo: This Week: NA Last Week: 9.80
Phoenix: This Week: 8.67 Last Week: 10
Magellan: This Week: 9.08 Last Week: 9.93
Odyssey: This Week: 9.25 Last Week: 9.75

The ODYSSEY take the Prize for Best Satisfaction Score! Congratulations CHRISTINE and your team. 

Overall Ranking by all campers for this Overnight Camp:
This Week's All Ship Average: 8.93 out of a perfect 10.
Last Week's All Ship Average: 9.38out of a perfect 10

Thanks All for Another Great Overnight Camp. 


Mr. Williamson

The Imaginarium

The Ordinary - to the Extraordinary