The Space Center's First Annual Acting Summit. The Voyager Club's June Meeting. The Space Center Hosts a Book Signing. The Aliens and Humans Who Inhabit the Space Center. Imaginarium Theater.

The 2025 Acting Summit

     Last week the Space Center's Acting Department held the first annual Acting Summit.  Tyler Weight is the Department Head and taught the workshop.  Here you see Morgan paying more attention to his supper than Tyler.  

     The class objective was to teach members of the Voyager Club's Volunteering Group the major acting roles for the summer 2025 camp missions.

     The Space Center provided the all you can eat pizza supper. The Volunteers were on their best behavior (Mr. Porter was taking notes in the back of the room).  It is easy to pay attention when Tyler is teaching - he has a commanding presence in the classroom.  

     Connor Larsen and Jon Parker were did what they always do best, support the troops.  They  came to the workshop representing the Magellan and the Cassini.  

    I want to give Tyler a shout out for an excellent presentation, complete with a well executed lesson plan complete with stated objectives and desired outcomes.  The Acting Summit will be an annual event to be held at the end of May.  

The Voyager Club's June Meeting

     The Voyager Club held its June meeting on Saturday.  Eavie W., the club's president, was formally presented to the members for their approval.  Eavie is doing a great job.  June has kept her busy with the induction of many new club members. Just take a look at the photo above.  That's right, you see eight new Voyager Club members, all have reached the Volunteer level. 

      Brian Dean, one of the Space Center's planetarium navigators, gave an outstanding planetarium show for the Voyagers.  He is the best!  I can sit under that dome and listen to him preach the glories of the night sky for hours.  He presents from the front and with a commanding voice that forces your attention, and well timed humor, holds his audience's attention.  Great job Brian Dean.

     After the lesson, we had the raffle drawing.  Members walked away with a boomerang, a 24k gold Utah Buck, t-shirts, planetarium tickets, a nice reserve battery pack, and a poster.  

The Space Center Hosts a Meet the Author and Book Signing

     Jarom Strong is a Utah author who has written a series of science fiction books.  He held a book signing at the Space Center two weeks ago. 

      I stopped to talk to him on my way home from the Space Center as he was getting his event ready for opening.  

     "You picked the right place to hold your book signing," I said as I shook his hand.

     "I came here as a kid, and thought it closed years ago. I was happy to see it was still here and look how cool it is," he replied. 

      I introduced myself and told him that if he came to the Space Center on a field trip as a student, I was the who most likely directed his mission.  "Are you the guy who started this place?" he asked.  

     "Guilty as charged," I answered.  

     He was surprised and enthusiastic. "I want to thank you for sparking a love of science fiction in me.  It was my trip to the Space Center as a kid that started all of this," he said as he pointed to his posters.  "You are to blame!"  

     "First, let me apologize," I said in a regretful voice. "Second, you are a living testimony to the Space Center's mission.  We want to create a space faring civilization by using both science and science fiction to ignite the imaginations of our visitors.  And we did it with you, right?"  

     "You did," he replied. "Let me sign a book for you." 

     This was another testimony to the what we do at the Space Center.  Staff and volunteers, you have no idea of the impact your work here has on our visitors.  Lives can change with just one visit.  Always remember that......

        

     .....oh, and by the way, great cookies......

The Aliens and Humans Who Inhabit the Space Center.  June 2025

Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

The Space Place Tells "Much Ado About Horace" for its First Summer Camp. The Cassini Tells False Flag for the First Time. The Falcon Uses the Illusive Mr Anderson for Repairs, Watch Out. The Exploratorium in Venezuela, the First Out of the USA Simulator. The Imaginarium Theater.

The Space Place's First Summer EdVenture Camp with a Mission Called, "Much Ado About Horace"

The Space Place Staff and Volunteers for the First Camp of 2025

On June 16 The Space Place at Renaissance Academy held its first summer camp of the 2025 season.  The Junior Camp was for kids in 3rd and 4rd grade.  Connor Larsen reprised his role as Horace and Bradyn Lystrup played his much loved role as Dweeb.  Bracken Funk sat in the Flight Director's chair.  "Miss Livy" was second chair, Megan Warner was on the bridge. 

Connor and Bradyn

It was one of those "dream team" camps.  Connor and Brady did an excellent, hilarious, job in their character roles, some of which was captured in the video.  This is another reason why the volunteers and staff love the summer camps.  

I shot video for this first camp, including a two take complete tour of the Voyager in flight during the camp.  Enjoy watching the staff and volunteers make "Much Ado About Horace" a fun experience for the young campers.

The Cassini at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center Tells Jon Parker's New Summer Camp Mission "False Flag"

Jon Parker with the Cassini Staff and Volunteers for False Flag

Jon Parker took the old Voyager mission Epsilon, polished it up, did some surgical rewriting for the Cassini simulator, added the tacticals and script and told it as "False Flag" last week.  This was the mission's first test run. Space Center staff and volunteers made up the crew.  

Mr. Parker is ever faithful to his Voyager roots. His ultimate goal is to bring back the old Voyager's best missions and tell them once again in the Cassini.  

Rachel and Hyrum Playing the Main Roles
  

The crew did some real calculations as part of the mission.  It is always good to being in a bit of math to stress out a crew :)

False Flag will be another jewell in the Cassini's library of missions.  Great job to everyone involved.  The next step, tell the mission for the first time to our summer space campers. 

What did the Falcon Pay to Get This Level of Help?

     

     The Cassini, Magellan, Phoenix, Odyssey, and Galileo dock at a Starfleet station when they are in need of repairs.  The Falcon, on the other hand, isn't Starfleet. When they need repairs and upgrades, they must use "independent" contractors who deal exclusively with these types of Privateers.  People who know how to keep their mouths shut. People who get paid, under the table, for special services rendered.  People who may or may not have access to Starfleet technology that is NOT for the public's use - and use it for their own purposes.  

     When the Falcon needs help, a certain individual who goes by the name "Alex Anderson" (a very innocent sounding, run of the mill name) is called out - which is what happened on Saturday. I walked onto the Falcon and found Mr. Anderson at work.  "Ah, Mr. Anderson," I said in a slight, but noticeable tone of surprise.  

     "At your service," he replied with a confident smile.  

     "What brings you aboard the Falcon?" I asked, knowing the truth would be the last thing I would hear.  

     He took a deep breath, then glanced at Mikey before speaking, "Oh, this and that."

I understood that was the only answer I would hear, so with a friendly nod I exited the ship with a simple, "Well, carry on." 

     I'm sure, Mr. Anderson, is wanted by some Starfleet law enforcement agency, who would be willing offer a reward for information as to his whereabouts, but you'd have to be desperate if you went down that dangerous and dark road to sudden wealth.  Others have tried and only discovered the hard way that you can't take your money with you to the grave..............

The Starship Simulator (The Exploratorium) at the Colegio Internacional de Carabobo in Venezuela

Here is a short video showing the starship simulator, the Exploratorium, in Venezuela. It uses several programs to create immersive learning simulations for the school's students, one of which is Dream Flight Adventures.  I appreciate how well the director, Todd Lichtenwalter, Director of the Education Immersion Center at the school, integrated Star Trek into several simulations using the Oculus Quest headset. From simple beginnings at a small elementary school in Pleasant Grove.....right?

Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

The Dress Rehearsals of the Space Center's New Summer Camp Stories. Hyrum's New Mission has its Grand Opening on the Cassini! Welcome to a New Batch of Space Center Volunteers. This Week's Imaginairum Theater

 

  There is so much news at the start of the summer space camp season that it is difficult to keep up.  Today, I want to share a couple pictures I took on May 30th when the Space Center did a full scale test run of the new summer camp stories.  I believe every ship was testing a new mission, or testing an existing mission with changes.

      Because the Galileo was short a few crew members, I was asked to jump in and take a station for their mission test run.  I throughly enjoyed myself. Thank you Brylee and Alex for doing an excellent job.  In fact, I enjoyed it so much, I think I'll ask to be on a few more test runs as they pop up in the future.

     The missions went well except for a few hiccups in the Magellan, but that is exactly why you run test missions.  They give you the opportunity to make edits, changes, additions, and subtractions etc to deliver an outstanding mission to our campers.  A special shout out to the Falcon for having a set of impressive props.  I also want to give kudos to Nan for the authentic looking "very old" book she created for the Falcon's story.  What an awesome group of creative geniuses we work with at the Space Center.

The Cassini Tells Hyrum's New Mission "Songs of Stone" for the First Time to Campers

     Hyrum and the Cassini staff are happy to report a resounding success after telling Hyrum's new mission "Songs of Stone" for the first time to day campers on June 11.  

     If I remember correctly, Hyrum said that the mission went better than expected and with that said, he gave himself a hearty pat on the back with a "Good Job Hyrum," muttered under his breath.  

     "So, with one success under your belt, do you plan on writing another mission?" I asked. 

     "Not in the near future," he replied. "This mission writing takes too much time!"

Meet our New Voyager Club Volunteers at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center

     Tyler Weight is the head of the Space Center's Acting Department.  One of his favorite assignments as department head is to teach the Acting 101 workshop to new members of the Space Center's Voyager Club. These members are either brand new volunteers or in the process of completing the requirements to become a volunteer.

     Last week, Tyler taught a new group of Voyager Volunteers the act and science of Space Center acting.  Here they are on the Falcon bridge getting ready to do some improve.  With this new set of volunteers, the Space Center's volunteer corps is ready for a busy summer of camps and private missions.  

     

Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

The Space Center's Voyager Club Burned Through a Lot of Alka Seltzer! The First Summer Space Camp was All Smiles! Imaginairum Theater

The Voyager Club's May Meeting with Lots of Alka Seltzer!

The Christa McAuliffe Space Center's Voyager Club met for their monthly meeting on May 31, 2025.   Thank you to Jason Trump for putting the lesson together and the space capsule / Alka Seltzer rocket launches.  Also, a warm welcome to our new Voyager Club members and congratulations to those who received their year pins.   

First Day of Summer Space Camp at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center

June 2, 2025

The doors of the Christa McAuliffe Space Center opened to a swarm of young space campers eager to start their adventures into space.  The staff and volunteers were just as excited to test out some of the new summer space missions.  Let's just say, it was all SMILES!

 

Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

Megan Warner Honored at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center's Honor's Night. The Imaginairum Theater

      Megan Warner received the Founder's Award Thursday night at the Space Center's Honor's Night for nearly 25 years of dedicated service both as a volunteer and member of staff. She is the only person who has worked at some point in her career at the following space centers in Utah County

1.  Christa McAuliffe Space Center (she currently works here)

2.  Discovery Space Center at Canyon Grove Charter School

3.  Discovery Space Center at Stonegate

4.  Telos Discovery Space Center at TelosU in Orem / Vineyard

5.  The Space Place at Renaissance Academy (she currently works at here)

6.  The Discovery Space Center at American Heritage School (she currently works here)

     Megan started as a young volunteer at the Space Center in October 2021.  Since then it was onward and upward!

Voyager shirt promotion: April/May 2002
Supervisor pass off: May 2003
Summer 2003: supervised, worked in kitchen, started FD training in Odyssey.
Flight director pass in Odyssey: Late summer 2004.
Started flying Phoenix August 2005.

Set Director of Phoenix: Late 2005- December 2009

LDS Mission to S. Korean 2009-2011
Returned from her mission in the summer of 2011 and did all the same stuff at the Space Center she was doing before.

     Megan took the reigns of the Christa McAuliffe Space Education Center when I retired at the end of May 2013. She kept the Space Center together and functioning during what could have been a very difficult year, but wasn't thanks to her skills, professionalism, and dedication to the spirit of the center and its mission. She did an excellent job!  

     Megan took a break from Utah and moved to California to be with family after James Porter assumed control of the CMSEC as director. Spending three years in California was enough for her. She returned to Utah. 

     Being in the right place at the right time is Megan's philosophy. I personally believe she and Fortuna, the Goddess of Fortune, have some kind of special bond. 

     During her time at the Space Center, Megan has flown, at some point in her career, the Odyssey, Phoenix, Galileo, Voyager, Magellan, and Falcon.

     During her time at the Discovery Space Center she supervised the Columbia and Atlantis; and flew the Atlantis, Columbia, Challenger, and Endeavor.  At the Discovery Space Center at Canyon Grove she flew the Everest and Pathfinder

     She helped at iWorlds as they were trying to open a space center in Murry, Utah as a staff trainer. She also helped with the Valiant a couple of times. 

     At the Space Place at Renaissance Academy Megan supervises and flys the Voyager II and Nighthawk. 

     She was hired at American Heritage's Discovery Space Center in January 2024 where she flies and supervises the Discovery. 

     I know I've left something out of that long list of accomplishments, but you get the picture. Megan has been there every time she was needed at any of the space centers.  Space Centering is in her blood. It is her work, her hobby, and her passion. 

     Thank you Megan for Everything!

A Video Tribute to Megan Warner

The Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World, Edited for a Gentler Audience

And That Wraps Up 42 Years! The Lion's Gate Competes its In School Field Trip Program. The Imaginairum Theater.

Central Elementary. 1983-1984                  Renaissance Academy 2024-2025

                        

And That Wraps Up Year 42.  

     "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." That saying sums up my thoughts at the end of each school year. Every one of my 42 years has presented challenges that made me question why I entered the field of education. Yet, every one of those years has also brought its joys and successes, reaffirming my choice to dedicate my career to education. 

     From 1983 to 1990, I taught sixth grade full-time at Central Elementary, and from 1990 to 2013, I taught one period of 6th-grade math daily from 9:00 to 9:45 a.m. I would conclude my math lesson, dismiss the students, and hurry to the Voyager simulator for my morning field trip flight. For the first two years the Space Center was open, I also taught one period of 6th-grade social studies right after our field trip, from 1:45 to 2:30 p.m. 

     I retired from the Alpine School District in 2013 after 30 wonderful years to pursue my goal of returning to the classroom full time. In 2013, I began teaching 6th grade and assisting Bracken Funk at The Space Place at Renaissance Academy, where I remain. On Saturdays, you can find me back at the Christa McAuliffe Space Center, assisting Mr. Porter, the Space Center Director, with the volunteer program. 

     I'm proud of what my students achieved this year. We had fun with my government World War I simulation. They worked very hard in math. My four sixth-grade math classes scored 69% proficient on the state RISE math exam, while the Utah 6th-grade RISE math proficiency stands at 38.3%. 

     Teaching is a rewarding career, and I encourage young adults to consider it when they consider their post-high school lives.  You will find it the most demanding job you've ever done and the most rewarding.  Another benefit is your summer vacation. And then, at the beginning of August, it all starts anew when a new batch of younglings walks into your classroom ready for a new adventure.

The Lion's Gate Space Center at Lakeview Academy Wraps Up Their In-School Field Trip Program. 298 Missions!  

    Our friends at the Lion's Gate Space Center completed 298 missions to wrap up their in-school field trip program. All students at Lakeview Academy go on missions in the school's two starship simulators, the Apollo and Artemis.  

     The space center program plays an essential role in Lakeview Academy's educational program, which means the Lion's Gate staff and volunteers always needed to be at their best, which they were.  I was privileged to spend a day with them when the CMSC Space Center's volunteers came out for a mission.  We all left impressed with the professionalism and quality of the Lion's Gate Space Center experience.  

     The Lion's Gate Space Center will soon add two more Starship Simulators and a Space Station Simulator to its growing fleet of ships.  "Wow!" is all I can say about their successes.  

     Keep it up, Lion's Gate Pride!        

Imaginarium Theater. 

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience

The 2024-2025 Voyager Club Long Duration Missions at The Space Place Wraps Up the School Year with a Saturday Mission. The Space Center's Last Field Trip of the Year. My Class Experiences Hyper-Inflation. Edgemont Elementary School's Space Lab, the Imaginairum Theater.

 

The Final Crew of the 2024-2025 Voyager Club Long Duration Mission

      The Voyager Club at The Space Place at Renaissance Academy comprises two divisions: the LDM Flight Crews and the Volunteering Group. You can be a member of both. The LDM Flight Crew is divided into squadrons of 9 - 12 cadets. This year, we had 170 cadets enrolled in the Flight Crews, ranging in age from 8 to 14.  Every squadron does the same LDM (Long Duration Mission) with varying difficulty determined by age.  The missions began in September. The last squadron to finish the LDM flew its last installment on Saturday. The flights are usually held Monday-Friday, after school, with the rare Saturday missions.  Saturday's squadron was shorthanded because of the Saturday time, so several had to operate two stations. 

     They succeeded in the end. A loud, victorious cheer was heard throughout the empty school, and that was a school year wrap-up. Congratulations to everyone for a great nine-month mission full of ups and downs, and congratulations to The Space Place staff and Voyager volunteers for your excellent performance every afternoon.  

     The Space Place staff will have two weeks off to prepare the Starship Voyager for a summer of fun space camps for ages 10 to 16.  To book your place on one of the summer space camps, please use this link.

Celebrate the Christa McAuliffe Space Center's Field Trip Staff. The 2024-2025 Field Trip Year Ended on Friday.

Brylee, Jordan, Ellie, Audrey, Scott, and Tyler

Field trips are the Space Center's first responsibility to the Alpine District. All other Space Center programs follow. For most of our patrons, the field trip was their first Space Center experience. Therefore, the Space Center's field trip staff have a weighty responsibility to always be at their best to provide our visitors with the best field trip in Utah.

Friday was their last field trip for the school year. The staff can rest, recuperate, and prepare for a busy summer camp season.

Mr. Porter, Space Center Director, wrote the following about the staff:

A portion of our space center field trip staff gather together after cleaning the ships one last time, since we just finished our last field trip for the school year. Another great year of inspiring kids, perhaps traumatizing a few, getting some planetarium motion sickness, and definitely making long-lasting memories. Our staff are amazing, and we are so privileged to serve the students of our community.

Teaching Using Simulations. It is What We Do.

Students Arriving at School and Seeing Hyper-Inflation at Work 

    I started teaching with simulations at Central Elementary School in Pleasant Grove, Utah, at the end of the 1982-1983 school year.  That year, my focus was on space. It was the first year I ran the simulated space missions.  The following school year, I added historical simulations to the curriculum. That year, we fought World War I from Russia's viewpoint over two months, we then switched to the German side, and the students lived through Germany's surrender, the Versailles Treaty, hyper-inflation, and the rise of Hitler and the slide into World War II.  We finished the year running a simulation allowing them to live under a communist economic system.  

     This year, my students finished the 43rd World War I sim.  They lost, and last week, they received the Versailles Treaty and the humiliation that followed.  We had a lengthy class discussion on how they would make the war payments required by France, Britain, and the United States. We have a class currency that they earn and spend, and their payment would be in the class currency, but they didn't have a fraction of the money required in the payment scheme.  After a thoughtful debate, they decided to start the printing presses and mass produce class money.  After all, it is just paper.  Over the following two days, they were shocked and dismayed after seeing the results of their decision.  The prices in my little "German Store" changed by the hour.  Before they decided to print massive amounts of money, a donut and candy were 3 DM.  On Friday, the day started with the prices in the photo above.  

     New Reichstag elections were held on Thursday. The Liberty Party won the most seats in the 5-seat Reichstag (German parliament). The Liberty Party promises to bring down inflation. 

     Teaching with simulations (Experiential Education) takes more time than direct instruction, but the learning is remembered far longer, and it makes school FUN.  

Provo's Edgemont Elementary School's Space Lab for Mission.io Missions.

    

     Edgemont Elementary School has been running InfinD's, now Mission.io's, space missions for several years.  They have a dedicated computer lab for the missions, decorated to resemble a space station or a starship.  Skyler Carr highlights the lab and the new history Mission.io simulation in the video below.    

The Imaginarium Theater

The Week's Best Videos From Around the World Edited for a Gentler Audience