Down Memory Lane: The Old Rank Advancement Forms and Rank Lanyards. The Acting Department at the Space Center Presents Three Workshops to Prepare for the Tavern Night Social in October. Imaginarium Theater.

 

The Space Center's Original Rank Advancement Form from the 1990's

I'm not sure who sent this to me, but thank you to whoever it was.  This is the Space Center's first Rank Advancement Form, given to everyone who attended a Friday night Overnight Camp.  We did Friday Overnight Camps nearly every weekend year-round.  Back then, we had three starships: Voyager, Odyssey, and Galileo, and 14 rank levels.  You will notice next to each mentioned rank is an F and a C number. F stood for Flight Hours, and C meant Class Hours.  Campers earned class hours for time spent in mission briefings, field trip lessons, and the Space Center's many Boy Scout merit badge classes.  You also earned class hours for coming on a three-day overnight camp in the summers. One of the summer camp rotations was a four-hour class session. 

Campers with their Rank Lanyards outside the Galileo

It was the attendees' responsibility not to lose this form. The Space Center didn't track hours.  Visitors brought their rank form with them whenever they came to a camp, field trip, or class.  They received a new one when they left with their updated hours.  

Campers Earning Class Hours

Ship positions were given out based on a camper's rank.  Campers wore rank lanyards during summer camps to identify their rank and access the special perks we offered: First pick of ship jobs, first pick of sleeping accommodations, sometimes first in line for meals, etc. The ranks were one way we encouraged people to return often. 

The Magellan Crew with Rank Lanyards preparing to receive their uniforms and board the ship

The New and Improved Rank Advancement Form from the 2000's

We switched to this new and improved rank advancement form in the late 1990's and 2000's.  One of our brainiac programming class graduates created a nifty program for me.  All I had to do was pull up the program, type in the visitor's name and their new hours, and PRESTO, out would come these sheets ready to go home with the camper.  You can see that Austin came to the Space Center on March 7, 2003, by the Stardate.  I really like our old Space Center description under the name:  "A Utah Arts, Sciences, Technology Education Initiative".  Perhaps we should bring that back??  

Do any of you old-timers out there still have your old rank advancement form? Send a photo. Better yet, send any photos you may have of your old days at the Space Center.  It would be appreciated.  

Mr. Williamson  

The Space Center's Voyager Club Acting Department and the Upcoming Tavern Night Social for Volunteers and Staff      

Tyler Weight. Department Instructor

The Space Center has an acting department dedicated to improving our volunteers' acting skills and people skills.  Tyler Weight is our instructor.  Tyler is a longtime Space Center volunteer and an all-around fantastic actor.  He has what I call "Room Presence".  

The topic of Saturday's class was "The World of Character Building". 

The class description: "The world of character building revolves not only around what a character does, but also why they do it the way they do, or what is going on “behind the scenes.” Most characters created at the space center go through the same process we will go through to create such a memorable character. The lessons learned here will not only help you with our tavern night, but also help you understand your own characters that you create for yourselves."

Saturday's Group of Budding Thespians

The follow-up workshop will be held on Sept. 26 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM at the Space Center. It is titled "The Art of Costuming.

The class description: 

Costuming helps bring a character to life! However, you wouldn’t expect a doctor or a military commander to dress up like the homeless person down the street. So for this workshop, we will focus on how costuming can influence our crews to make you a memorable character they will long remember. This will also help you as you think about your character for our Tavern night and how they would be dressed. There will be games galore for us to try putting different costume pieces together and getting others to guess what type of character we are.

The final workshop in the series of three will be held on October 10 from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM at the Space Center. It is titled "Improv and the Role it Plays in Acting"

The class description: 

Who doesn’t love improving something? Whether it’s the crew throwing you a curveball and you have to react fast to keep yourself in character, or just going with the flow, you find that improv is at the heart of acting at the Space Center. We will go over some acting points and tips, and we will also have plenty of games to put our brains and wits to the test, coming up with and acting out scenes right out of a hat! During our tavern night, you will not know exactly who or what you may come across, so you might have to think right off the top of your head about what to say next!

Tavern Night is the final culmination of the series. It will be held on October 15 from 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM and will be open to all Space Center volunteers and staff. Participants will socialize in a fictional off-world tavern (think of the cantina in Star Wars) where they can demonstrate all the skills they've learned. It will be a great night full of fun and games.

Imaginarium Theater

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