A Few Thoughts. The Imaginarium.

A Few Thoughts from Mr. Williamson

Staff, Volunteers, Voyagers and Young Astronauts,

Are you feeling overwhelmed? Are you stressed to the point of breaking? Are you tossing and turning at night when you should be sleeping. Are you sleeping in class when you should be learning? Perhaps you suffer from a disease called: IWANTTODOEVERYTHINGBUTIDONTHAVETHETIMEBUTIMNOTWILLINGTOCUT
SOMETHINGSOUTSOILLJUSTKEEPDOINGEVERYTHINGUNTILIDROPitus.

If you suffer from this ailment and are looking for a magic cure, I want to assure you that there isn't one. There are only 24 hours in a day and nothing you do will increase that. You may choose to sleep less and thus cheat on the day by stealing hours from the night but that therapy will fail over time. Soon your sanity will surrender to insanity and you'll be found doing cartwheels down State Street in your underwear.

A bit of balance is what the doctor ordered. To avoid going 'GaGa'; to avoid falling asleep at your desk in school and drooling over your notes, may I suggest you take a look at your schedule and decide if everything you're juggling is really necessary. You may need to cut some things out and use those few hours for other things to bring balance to your life and sunshine to your soul (like sleep and downtime for a good long nature walk). Here are a few ideas.

1. Reserve time for some kind of activity. Many participate in a sport. Whatever you do to keep your heart beating is good. A healthy body is more alert. You'll spend less time sick. Physical activity is a must in any daily schedule. 
2. Give your education your very best. This is your future. Any shortcuts in this section of your time will be lasting. Shoot for the 'A'.
3. Community and/or faith. I believe everyone needs to give something back to the community. Considering volunteering for a few hours per month in a school or other organization. Giving of ourselves keeps us unselfish and gives you insights on how blessed you really are. Community and/or faith give you an anchor, essential for those troubled times.
4. Reserve time to be a kid. You need to hang out with your friends. You need to go to a movie and listen to your music. You need time to unwind. Don't feel guilty for taking time for friends. Just remember to keep it clean and follow your parent's guidelines. They've been there before and know the potholes in life's road you should avoid.
5. Don't forget your family. Teenagers find themselves wanting to spend more time with friends and less time with family. This sometimes causes parents to 'freak out'. They've raised you all these years and find it tough to let you start creating a life of your own. Help your parents through this tough time by not neglecting your family. Don't cut them out of your decision making. Keep the lines of communication open. You'll see the apron strings loosen if you take time to talk to mom and dad on a regular basis. Shutting yourself away in your room or always hiding behind a screen is the wrong approach. Weekly time for Mom and Dad is a must. Trust me - you'll be happier and they'll be happier.
6. Be wary of social media. Everyone on Facebook, Instagram, etc seems to have the perfect life. They don't. People use social media to sell themselves in a desperate search for likes. It is a self-promotion tool. I have a Facebook account to post Space Center related business and blog posts. You rarely, if ever, see me post anything personal. Your personal life, in my opinion, is personal. Something between you, family, and close friends. Care should be taken when posting personal details and extra care should be taken when you scour the web looking at what everyone else is doing and then using that in a comparison to your life. Life can be tough and we're all in this together. 

Your life should be a careful balance of the items above. Try to keep this balance and I believe you'll be happier and more successful. 

Mr. Williamson

The Imaginarium

Meet the Expanded Crew of the Starship Voyager as Imagineered by the Volunteers and Staff of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center circa March 2001. Newly Discovered Pictures from the Space Center's Voyager Era. Meet More of Farpoint's Young Astronauts at Renaissance Academy. Theater Imaginarium.

Meet the Expanded Crew of the Starship Voyager as Imagineered by the Volunteers and Staff of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center circa March 2001

Voyager Volunteers in character locked safely in the brig. Bracken Funk, ?, ?, and Taylor Herring. Do you
remember that glow in the dark carpet I had installed in the brig?  What was I thinking????

In March 2001 I challenged the Pioneers and Voyagers (our two volunteering organizations at that time) to create their own, individual walk on characters for the USS Voyager.  Several took up the challenged and emailed their creations to me for posting on a character database.  That database has since been lost with the transition of the original blog to a YahooGroup. 

I've cut and pasted their original postings to a Googledoc for everyone to see.  This document will be printed and kept in a binder in the new Voyager's control room for reference.  Voyager volunteers and staff will use these characters in second storylines to enrich the Voyager experience.  You old timers from the Space Center's Voyager Era who wrote these gems will be happy to know your work will be used today.

This is the link to the character database.  Enjoy reading and please remember that the writing is that of young teens whose computers didn't have the fancy spell checking abilities of modern computers.  You may recognize several of the authors like James Porter, Metta Smith, Admiral Bill Schuler, and many more.  

Newly Discovered Pictures from the Space Center's Voyager Era   

Jennifer Remy

 If it's Sunday, it's time for more newly discovered pictures from the CMSEC's Voyager Era (1990-2012).  Today we start with Jennifer Remy's photo, the one that hung on the Staff and Volunteer Board in the Briefing Room for many years.  So many years in fact, that much of the photo's color bled away in the constant barrage of flourescent light.  I did what I could to restore the photograph's original color. 

Jennifer worked with me over thirteen years in a variety of capacities. She developed multimedia presentations and packages to deliver a highly interactive and engaging learning experience. She developed support graphics, movies, and animation for simulator missions and classroom learning experiences. Jennifer was great at creating advertisements and flyers. She developed complete lesson plans and curriculum for distribution throughout Alpine School District in conjunction with the mission learning objectives for the Center. Jennifer wrote and delivered summer camp curriculum including star shows, physics lessons, simple machines experiments, team building skills, and many other educational and recreational activities. And finally, as if all of that wasn't enough, Jennifer supervised summer camp students during all camp activities.

Erin Fordham

 Erin was a long time volunteer at the CMSEC. She was one of those you never forget. She was talented, kind, generous, and dedicated to the Space Center's mission.  Erin followed in her mother's footsteps and became an RN.  Today she works at Primary Children's Hospital.

Erin Today

And finally, we end today's installment with a photograph of the bestus of friends taken at Pleasant Grove Pool during one of our 48 hour overnight camps.  The 48 hour overnight camps were challenging. The camps were always full with between 42 and 62 campers depending on the year.  The volunteers and staff bonded during these long camps and became good friends.   

Amanda Hadley, Metta Smith, Caity Lee, and Megan Warner

Meet More of Farpoint's Young Astronauts at Renaissance Academy

I'd like to introduce you to two more of my 26 Young Astronaut and Voyager Club squadrons.  The 4th Grade Cobra Squadron launched on the first segment of their seven-month mission last Monday.  They were lucky to have sixth grade Andrew as their temporary captain. Andrew was substituting from the 6th Grade Tiger Squadron.  The 4th Cobra's numbers were down due to Thanksgiving absences. The Voyager eased out of space dock with barely a scratch.  A few calculations later and the starship was on course to the Klingon / New Earth border in search of a diplomatic shuttle with a certain briefcase with certain papers I'm not at liberty to discuss in this forum.  

Below is the 5th Grade Scorpion Squadron under the brilliant command of Captain Foxton and First Officer McKay.  They too launched on their seven-month mission. 

The 5th Scorpions have a real attitude when it comes to dealing with a certain stubborn, evil, dictatorial Chancellor who happens to lead a political organization called the National Front.  Why just mentioning his name brought this reaction from the crew. 

Theater Imaginarium

The Best Gifs of the Week Edited for a Gentler Audience