Join Me in Congratulating the Space Academy's Young Astronauts and Voyager Club Top Squadrons for the 2018-2019 School Year

We have nearly 200 Young Astronauts and Voyagers at the Renaissance Space Academy in grades 3 - 8.  They are divided into squadrons of 8-10 cadets.  Young Astronauts and Voyagers participate in a school year long LDMs (Long Duration Missions).  The 3rd grade squadrons encountered an escaped slave who was being hunted by his owner.  The 4-8th grade squadrons ventured deep into the Cardilir Neutral Zone to launch several star probes to study a star on the verge of going supernova.  Classes in leadership, team building, and space science complemented the time spent in the Jumpship Voyager. 

All Space Academy squadrons finish their missions in May. Last week, four of the squadrons completed their missions and received their points and promotions in the Terran Space Command.  We celebrate their successes and achievements.

Congratulations to the 6th Cobra Squadron commanded by Italia.  
Total Points Earned:  824.

Congratulations to the 5th Scorpion Squadron commanded by London.  
Total Points Earned:  837.  Top Team Round Awards:  1.  Second Place Awards:  2 

Congratulations to the Middle School Phoenix Squadron commanded by Gavin.  
Total Points Earned:  807.  Top Team Round Awards:  1.  Second Place Awards:  1

Congratulations to the Middle School Lion Squadron commanded by Seth.  
Total Points Earned:  844.  Top Team Round Awards:  3.  Second Place Awards:  1

Friends of the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.  We Need Your Help with a Matching Grant of $100,000. All We Need are Likes!

 

To reach our goal of 5,000 LIKES our friends at doTERRA Essential Oils have pledged $20 for every like on the Christa McAuliffe Space Center Facebook page up to $100,000 as the sponsor of the USS Magellan simulator!

Like our page and tag your friends to help us connect to our community. Over 400,000 participants have enjoyed the Space Center and we want to reconnect with them as we look forward to building our next adventure. It is often that people say, "I didn't even know this existed!" With your help and doTERRA Essential Oils we can share the joy of our program and stop this terrible phrase from being uttered again. Help make a donation today with just a click!

Visit spacecenter.alpineschools.org to learn more about on our new planetarium and simulators under construction.

James Porter

Director

CMSC Legend Dave Wall Added:

Hey all...If you go to the Community section of the Space Center's Facebook page to the right of the page, there is a link to "Invite your friends to like this Page." Click that, select all, write a quick message and click Send Invites. I did that about an hour ago, and seven of my friends have already added their likes. That's $140 in just a first hour to the Space Center for a few moments of my time. YOU CAN MAKE a big difference!

Meet Mason Perry, a Member of the Next Generation of Flight Directors

Mason last Saturday in the Phoenix Control Room

Meet Mason, a member of the next generation of flight directors currently in training at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.  I found him directing a training mission on the Phoenix last Saturday.  Jordan Smith (top of his head is visible) sat in the doorway taking copious notes to share with him in Mason's post flight debriefing.  

Mason follows a long line of flight directors who can all trace their training history back to FD1 who just happens to be me over the Space Center's nearly 30 years of operations.  He is training in the old Phoenix, and in less than a year's time, he will be flight directing the new Phoenix in the new Space Center.

Mason's time at the Space Center started as a young black shirt volunteer and member of the Voyager Club back in 2016.  I've followed his progress over the last few years with interest.  He is a talented young man with a fondness for wrist watches as highlighted in another Troubadour post from October 2016.  

Mason as a young volunteer

Mason with his Voyager Club LDM Squadron

 Good luck with your training Mason.  Jordan is a good flight director and will train you well. 

Mr. Williamson

Construction Update
The New Christa McAuliffe Space Center and Central Elementary School

Pre Construction Photo
The playground as we all remember it.  The new school and space center will occupy the right (north) playground.

Construction continues at full speed on the new Christa McAuliffe Space Center and Central Elementary School in Pleasant Grove with an opening date set for April 2020.  

From the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center's Archives.  A Post from the Past

April 21, 2003

Mr. Williamson was on the Radio

Hello everyone,

     I just thought I would share what happened to me today at work. I work at a Greenhouse and I was there all day, from 9 to 6. Because it gets so boring, we always listen to channel 105.7 on the radio. For you that don't know what channel that is, it's the "Cutting Edge of Rock". 
     At about 3:40, I was just peacefully watering some plants, then something came on the radio about Education. First thing I thought was "Stupid commercials... I just wanna hear some Disturbed!". I didn't pay much attention to it, then the line "A teacher from Alpine School District" really caught my attention. This commercial, started to talk about Mr. Victor Williamson and the history of the Space Center, and what happens there. 

     Listening to this commercial really gave me the chills. All I thought was, "Holy crap, this is the Space Center! I am amongst the few that volunteer there!" Listening to Utah's best rock station, that was the last thing I would ever expect to show up on the radio. It is amazing how the Space Center reaches out to all over the State. I live Roy, over 80 miles away, and I heard about the space center on the radio. I just couldn't believe that the Space Center was on the radio.

Josh is kneeling next to Alex DeBirk who is in the white shirt.

     I wish I could make it down to the Space Center more often, because I am missing out on History. We are all a part of History here at the Space Center. Who knows, maybe one day a kid will come back, and say thanks to you for being the coolest Doctor on the Voyager, 10 years ago. 

     Mr. Williamson has defiantly set his big footprint down, right smack dab in the middle of History. We all can make our mark in time. Let us just hope that our experience from the Space Center will make us succeed in life, to become another great teacher. Mr. Williamson isn't your ordinary, everyday teacher. Sure, he teaches some ordinary school classes here and there, but that isn't where he really teaches. He teaches the kids that come here everyday. He teaches them to open their minds into another world. A world that has no limit, but our very own imagination. He is a teacher of Mind, Heart, and Soul. He has taught me to be a great worker. Most all of my work habits come from his teachings and guidance. 
     We all should be grateful to know this man. Mr. Williamson's workings has touched so many lives, too many to start counting. I am one of that many. Are you?

Josh Dye

Moderator's Note:
Thank you Josh for your very kind words. I'm glad we've made it to the radio. What you are all hearing is a public service announcement supplied by the State Office of Education (I think). It was written by a good friend of the Space Center. Her name is Charlie. She and her husband live in the Salt Lake Valley and come to the Center whenever they get a chance. A public thank you to Charlie for the writing of the commercial and arranging it to be played on air.

Mr. W.

Imaginarium Theater

The Best Videoettes From Around the World to Teach, Inspire, and Entertain a Gentler Audience

The Space Academy Starts a New Flight Director Training Program. The Christa McAuliffe Space Center Releases Total Volunteer Hours. From the Historical Archives Photos and the Space Center Journal from April 2003. Imaginarium Theater

Flight Director Training Starts Early at the Space Academy Thanks to InfiniD Learning

Tabitha, the first Space Academy student to direct an InfiniD mission from the Voyager's Flight Station.

     Renaissance Academy (RA) students have opportunities unavailable to students anywhere else in Utah through the school's Space Academy. Training to become a supervisor and flight director in the world class Starship Voyager simulator is an example of one of those unique opportunities. 
     This past week the Academy began a new InfiniD Flight Director training program offered to RA's middle school Space Tech and Voyager Club graduates.  InfiniD Learning provides experiential simulation software and missions to schools worldwide.  InfiniD's software is designed to be almost "plug and play" thus making simulator centered experiential learning available to the masses and not just to those students who attend schools with Space EdVenture simulators (brick and mortar) like the Space EdVenture Centers in Utah County. 
     Bracken Funk is the Space Academy's Director of Operations.  Directing InfiniD missions for RA's nearly 900 students is one of Bracken's responsibilities.  After watching one of the school's InfiniD missions, I realized that a competent, well trained, 8th grader could do the job of flight directing an InfiniD mission under Bracken's supervision.  The software is well designed to the task.
     Students who excel as InfiniD Flight Directors would naturally progress through the Academy's training program to become both supervisors and flight directors for the Academy's Young Astronauts / Voyager Club Long Duration Missions and from there springboard into directing private missions and camps. 
     The Space Academy at Renaissance continues to find ways to provide unique STEAM enriched space themed education for hundreds of students every day through the Young Astronauts Club, the Voyager Club, Space Tech, the Space Academy Leadership Training Program, and now the Junior Flight Director Program.  For more information on Renaissance Academy and the its programs visit the school's website renacademy.org.  
For more information on the Space Academy including private missions and summer camps on the Starship Voyager visit the Academy's website SpaceCampUtah.org.

Mr. Williamson

Volunteer Hours Tally. Christa McAuliffe Space Center

Our volunteers are great and we can't say it enough!

Just did some fun tallies as we are combining our current records with older archives that started in the late 90's. Here are two fun facts:

1990-Present = 465 Volunteers/Staff

197,602 hours of RECORDED service

Many of the hours donated live on only in the cherished experiences of our patrons and volunteers. Thanks again to all who have donated over the years.

James Porter
Director 

From the Archives.  The History of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center. Space Center Journal

June 2008.  Mr. Williamson starting another overnight camp with the usual speech including the
Happy Bucket monolog

The Idaho Group Comes Down for their Yearly Overnight Camp. The kids were amazing. One dad insisted his kid's state test be regraded. Clark Planetarium just opened - a report on my first visit.  Several staff and volunteers are graduating from college and high school. 

Today's Post is from April 20, 2003

Hello Troops,
I'm hoping everyone is enjoying his or her Easter vacation. I had plans to get several things done over the break but have yet to sit down and get serious about that list. I've enjoyed staying in bed until the unheard of time of 7:00 A.M. Instead of getting right up and heading to the gym for my usual 6 miles on the treadmill I have chosen one or two hours of TV instead. BBC America's Ground Force is current on my list of favorites. 

The campers politely listening. They really just want to get into the ships
June 2008

We did our usual Spring Break Wednesday evening overnight mission last week. Heber Barzee and his kids from Idaho came down by bus. All day long I kept thinking it was Friday. The rest of the staff felt the same way.  Central's teachers were seen smiling all day long - a sure indication that a vacation was hours away. The numbers were a bit short so I decided to close the Falcon. 

Always happy faces when coming to Space Center overnight camps.

I ordered 13 pizzas from Little Caesars. Feeding the groups from Idaho is a tradition. It is the least we can do considering their drive was over five hours long. Bill Schuler picked up the pizzas and arranged the cafeteria. The bus arrived on time. Kendal Duclos escorted them all to the gym to drop off their belongings. Their next stop was the Briefing Room for their rank certificates. Supper was next on the agenda. I was a bit leery of the group. They looked tired and several were fourteen years old. Older groups can be a handful. I thought I'd have to keep a close watch. My attitude changed as I supervised them in the cafeteria during supper. They were quiet and extremely well behaved. I thought the reason for their model behavior was the fact that their chaperones were standing right there with me. Once they left I thought things would be different. I was wrong and very happy. The kids were great!

The nine oldest of the group chose the Voyager for Greenpeace. Any doubts they wouldn't take this seriously evaporated minutes into the briefing. The attention was fixed on every word coming out of my mouth. After the briefing they asked intelligent questions. Bryson Lystrup took them for loading while I prepared the new rank certificates for the entire camp. After training, both Brady Young and Bryson commented on how "awesome" this crew was. 

By the end of the camp I was heard telling Julie Collette that I'd work for free if all my groups were as good as that group from Idaho! I enjoyed every minute of that mission with them. Similar comments were heard from the Odyssey and Galileo staff. Julie was even more vocal than I on the outstanding performance of her crew. Mark Daymont and the Magellan
staff had the youngest of the campers. They weren't impressed or `depressed' by their crew. They ranked them average. We later learned that the 34 kids were chosen because of their outstanding performance on the Idaho State Test. You just don't pay and come with this group. You must earn your spot on the bus and the kids' work hard to get it. Heber told me that one dad called him demanding that his son's test be regraded. He told Heber that his son had to have the opportunity to come to the Space Center. It was something he had
dreamt of all year and couldn't be stopped because of one test. 

Once again I amazed at what some kids will do to come here and participate in this unique learning environment we have created.  Sometimes we get tired and feel we can't muster the enthusiasm to give another mission, lesson, or briefing our best. Right then we need to step back and remember what coming here means to most kids. The teachers always tell us how EXCITED the kids are when they arrive. Kids will talk about the field trip long afterwards as well. Not many field trips have that kind of effect on kids. We do because
of you! I know that and I hope you do as well. I can't do this alone and I count on each one of you for support, time, and dedication. Take pride in being a volunteer or staff of the Center. This is just one awesome place and it will get better as we work together on new ideas and innovations. 

The crew of the Odyssey trained and ready for warp speed
June 2008

Talk about awesome places I want to take a minute and tell you about the Clark Planetarium. I went up on Saturday afternoon to see the IMAX movie and star show. This was my first time there. The lines for tickets stretched out the door and down the block. The
planetarium opened on April 11. The community's welcome has been overwhelming. The Imax film "Space Station" was brilliant. After the movie we went into the Star Theater for "The Ultimate Universe". David Merrell works in the Star Theater and ran that show. He did an excellent job working with the audience and making everyone feel welcome. The show was fantastic with awesome visual effects created by Clark's own people.  After the show David took us on a `behind the scenes tour' of the theater and the large computer that powers everything. 

Learning to do the paperwork on the Starship Magellan
June 2008

I encourage all of you to get up to the Clark Planetarium before the IMAX movie "Space Station" leaves. Take in a movie and a star show. There is also a nice display area and very large gift shop. Give yourselves a good three hours for the trip. Both David Merrell and
Jennifer Remy work there so you may bump into one of them while you are there. 
Wear your Space Center T-Shirt if you go up. A little publicity never hurts and that is the place where space enthusiasts hang out. 

A gentle reminder to our set and flight directors that your summer stories need to be in high gear and on the front burner. I've arranged times in May for all the simulators to tell their stories for a dress rehearsal. Get going on it now. 

There is good news from another of our volunteers. Jamie Catlett is graduating from UVSC this month with a degree in elementary education. Congratulations Jamie on a job well done. I'm also aware of some high school graduations coming up next month - Julie Collette, Alex Debirk, and AJ Birrell. Some of our old staff will also be graduating in May – Ryan Davis, Shane Skaggs, and Corbin Simmons. Exact dates of each graduation will be posted later. If I've missed anyone please let me know. 

Well, that is about it. Thank you again troops and keep up the good work.

Mr. Williamson

Imaginarium Theater

The Best Videoettes From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

Win a Real Meteorite from Reality's Edge. The New Space Center Construction Update and the Car That Won't Go Away. Watch the CMSC's new Video. Posts from the Past April 2003 Plus Pictures. Space News. Space Academy Anti-Fortuna Dance. Imaginarium Theater.

The Discovery Space Center at Canyon Grove Academy has a New Name:  Reality's Edge. Help Spread the Word by Liking Their Facebook Page. You Might Win a Real Meteorite! 

     Reality’s Edge Space Simulations (formerly Discovery Space Center at Canyon Grove Academy) is a Utah based Space Center and member of the Space EdVentures Network of Space Centers. Reality's Edge is giving away a real meteorite. Share and Follow their Instagram and Facebook page for a chance to win. The contest ends on the last day of April.

     Join your friends, family or coworkers in an immersive deep space mission, guided by a talented crew of actors inside Reality Edge's three different ships! For more information follow them on social media, or go to their webpage, realitysedge.org.

     Utah's Space EdVenture Centers: Reality's Edge, Renaissance Space Academy, Telos Discovery Space Center, Christa McAuliffe Space Center, and the Lion's Gate Center, offer experiences of a lifetime in their state of the art simulators. Book your private missions and summer camps now.   

Construction Update
Central Elementary School and the Christa McAuliffe Space Center.  Pleasant Grove, Utah

Construction continues on the new Central Elementary School and Christa McAuliffe Space Center.  One year from now the new school and space center will be open and the old school fondly held in the community's history.

The beginning of April. Day 1 of construction

First Days of Construction at the beginning of April
The playgrounds days were numbers by minutes. The heavy machinery was coming in.

Here we are on April 21, 2019. 
Roof photos from the Christa McAuliffe Space Center's Facebook Page

The Car that Won't Say Goodbye

     There is a car parked on the construction site. It was there before construction started and is still there now. The owner has been contacted but doesn't seem too concerned. Perhaps he or she is making a statement and is unhappy about the community's new school and Space Center.  Or perhaps the car isn't worth the bother and is destined for the Kidney Foundation.    

     The construction crews have been more than kind towards the squatter.  Notice the car still sits on a small section of the original lot's parking pavement, undisturbed.  Construction will continue around it until patience is lost and that large bulldozer in the background solves the problem once and for all.  

     I vote to bury the car right there where the new parking lot will be. What a story that will make when the new parking lot is dug up for another new school one hundred years or so in the future; and to everyone's surprise, a car is found.  We should put a time capsule in the glove compartment to make its discovery even more newsworthy. 

What is a Christa McAuliffe Space Center Experience

The Christa McAuliffe Space Center created a video to help people better understand what  a CMSC field trip or private program involves.  Even after nearly three decades people who've never been to a Space EdVenture Center still have trouble getting their heads around what we do.  This video helps. 




Historical Posts from the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center's YahooGroup

The Voyager's Science / Defense Station
Summer Space Camps. July 2007

A Teacher's Thank you

April 12, 2003

     My class just went to the space center this afternoon, and they were typical, thick-headed, but well-behaved 11 and 12-year-olds. My goodness,but you and your staff show such incredible patience I can't help but thank you. I had 31 students, one of whom has a temper problem and can't read, and 5 of whom are ADHD. They all loved it. God bless 
you for developing this strange niche in our educational experience.  And the coordination involved still intimidates me and makes me feel like a very mediocre teacher.

Thank you for what you do.

A Young Summer Camper in the Galileo
July 2007

Space Center Journal. Event Horizon will be the Voyager's New Summer Story. The Hunt for Horace is Back! The New Galileo is Hinted at. New Isolinear Cabinets are Ready. Chris Alldredge is Back! Magellan Needs More Flight Directors.
The Staff Saves the Day with an Early School.  Customer Service is Number One at the CMSEC

April 13, 2003

Summer Missions

The Voyager story is all but written. Its working title is "Event Horizon". I'm still 
wrestling with the ending. The Galileo has one mission in development and one on the drawing board. Julie Collette has one mission that will be ready very soon. David Merrell
is assisting us with another one. This will be awesome for our Galileo fans. 

The Voyager's Sensors and Scanners Officer
July 2007 Summer Camps.

Two new missions! The Galileo hasn't had new missions for a few years. The Magellan will have a new mission finished by the end of this week. The Odyssey's new mission is written and in development. The Hunt for Horace is coming back in the Odyssey!

The Falcon's story is still in the re-write stage. Stacy Carrell has made an impressive start. We expect that story finished and in development within the week.  

Simulator News:

Lorraine Houston and Bill Schuler ran the Falcon this last weekend. Stacy is taking a bit of time off and will be back at the helm in two weeks. I want to congratulate Lorraine and Bill for doing an awesome job. The end of camp reviews were tremendous.

There is something brewing in the Galileo's direction. Something breathtakingly wonderful. I won't say anything now because the Galileo staff: Kyle Herring, Alex DeBirk, and Julie Collett will break the news in their own good time.

The Voyager's First Officer Training at the Command Station
July 2007

The Isolinear Chips compartments are getting ready to be officially activated. Matt Long is working on the programming and Dan Adams has been working on the cabinets. The Odyssey and Voyager compartments are in place. The Magellan's new two-computer desk will be finished this coming week. In addition to holding two new computer stations the Magellan's new desk will also house the Magellan's isoliner compartment. Once again a hearty thank you to Dr. Long (Matt's dad) at BYU and his students for their imagination and 
creativity. Theses new stations will add so much to the reality of the simulators. 

The Voyager needs to be recarpeted. I'm going to seek bids. If any of you know someone that carpets for a living and would like to give me a bid please send him or her my way. 

Who is that Masked Man?

Yes my friends, who was that strange man we saw roaming the halls of the Center Friday evening? Many of you recognized the face but couldn't put name to it. It was Chris Alldredge (Mr. A).  Mr. A is back volunteering at the Center after a two-year absence. Mr. A worked with Mr. Daymont on the creation of the original Magellan and ran it for a while when Mark was transferred to the Falcon project. Mr. A left the Center when he got a job at Apple computers and now works with PowerSchool. 

On the Magella Ready with the THX Controls
July 2007

Mr. A came to see me this week during one of the school missions. I filled him in on developments and asked him how things were going. He is working as a lead training and programmer for Powerschool. He gets to work out of his house; how would it be? He mentioned he missed the place. I told him about the new computer lab the school would be building in the new wing. I told him I wanted to close the Falcon and move it into the new lab. I asked him if he wanted to be on the new Falcon creation team. He said to let him think about it. Later that day he came back to the school and said that he would be honored to help out. I also talked him into becoming an assistant flight director for the Magellan working with Kyle Herring and Mark Daymont. He agreed to that as well. 

The back of the Odyssey. Summer Camps July 2007

The Magellan needs another one or two flight directors. Kyle Herring and Mark Daymont currently are the only two we have on staff that can run Magellan missions. Julie Collette has accepted an invitation from me to also train in Maggie along with Mr. A. My goal is to keep the Magellan running all day on Saturday with private missions. We can't do them during the week so Saturday is the day. Of course, Mark will only do 1 private mission and Kyle is very busy with "some other things I won't mention at this time watch for developments," so Julie and Mr. A will be it. 

The front section of the Odyssey.  Today's Odyssey Control Room sits right where the Captain's Chair sits.

Saturday: The Day from the Dark Side!

Wow, talk about royal blunders. Saturday morning started off very well. The kids from Sego Lily were well behaved during the night. I got a good night's rest and so did the chaperones. We fed them breakfast and started the trek from the lunchroom toward the ships when Bill and Lorraine noticed a school bus in the parking lot. Then we noticed kids in the bus. I stopped dead in my tracks. This couldn't be ++++++++ Junior High already here for their lesson and flight. It was. There were scheduled to arrive at 9:30 A.M. Mr. Fred Olsen was 
going to met them, bathroom them, and give them a Starlab show while we wrapped up the overnighter. Lorraine was going to teach them the Stazi classroom lesson after the Starlab, then lunch, and then into the simulators at 11:30 for a mission. 

The Odyssey with its Mood Lighting

I went out to talk to the teacher. I showed her the times we agreed to in the appt. book. What could she say? There it was in pencil and paper 9:30 A.M. to 2:00 P.M. not 8:00 A.M. All she could say was, "What do we do now? We've been up since 5:00 A.M. to get here." 

I called Mr. Olsen and he agreed to rush in and do something with them for a while while we all finished the overnight mission. Mr. A was a real trooper and stayed with them until Fred showed up. They watched a DVD on Black Holes. 

The Odyssey's Double Entrance: Through the turning door, then through the open hatchway.
Cool, Very Cool.

Customer Service Really is Number One at the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center 

I want to make a point with this. What other place would take a group of 30 junior high students that arrived one and one half hours early and work with them making them feel at home? This is customer service at its best. What a great place and what a great staff that work here doing whatever it takes to take care of our patrons. 

Hey, all of you are getting an Internet pat on the back from me and a "Thank you" shouted across the lines. Enjoy your Spring Break.

Mr. Williamson

This Week's Space and Science News
From the Telos Discovery Space Center
A Space EdVentures Center

The Space Academy's Staff Perform Their "Spell for a Successful Mission" Dance to Keep Fortuna at Bay.

     Knowing how Fortuna, the Goddess of Fortune,  loves to torment the Voyager (past and present) the staff have come up with a new ritual to ensure our crews have a safe, pleasant, exciting, and Fortuna free mission.  

     And finally, the Space Academy's Supervisors are loved, adored, and worshipped by our young padawans. 

     The Force will be Strong in this little one once he finishes his training and demonstrates his superior will power by never ever sampling the Magic Medicine in the Voyager's doctor's bag (as the young initiants are prone to do).  

The young padawan enters a life of service and training and promises to serve the Voyager all the days of his life

Imaginarium Theater

The Best Videoettes From ARound the World Edited for a Gentler Audience