American Dynasty

  Katie in the Odyssey Flight Director's Chair on Friday      Katie Young's last Odyssey mission before leaving on an LDS mission was Friday night.  At least that was the plan.  I stopped by the Space Center to get a photo or two of Katie and to say my farewells.  I wasn't the only one.  The Odyssey, which only has one volunteer or perhaps two on a lucky day, had an army of volunteer / well wishes on hand to work her last mission.  Katie's Final Staff:  Nolan, Hayden, Katie, Tyler, Mason, Jon, Orion. On the bottom row Hyrum, Ellie,  Cecily, and Audrey          Yes, you counted right. There were 11 staff and a crew of 8. Wow, those 8 young girls were about to get the mission of their lives..... until.....      During the mission briefing (pictured above) in the school's Conference Room, the captain, reacting to Katie's intense briefing, vomited.  It was one of those "we're done" vomits. Be...

By James Porter Be sure to "Like" the Space Center's Facebook Page. We have some absolutely amazing staff here at the Space Center and we want to take a moment to highlight our volunteers who have trained so hard to reach various paid positions over the last few months. Aaron is our most recent Magellan supervisor. He is preceded by Cecily and Hayden. The Magellan holds our largest crews and is often containing many rambunctious birthday party children. So it takes a special breed of staff to help focus that level of energy toward accomplishing mission objectives and crew unity. Aaron does so with a calm persistence, Cecily with her warm and welcoming persona, and Hayden sets a futuristic military tone that gets them right in character. Gracelyn has been our volunteer venturing into new realms as she has been the first volunteer to take on the training to become a planetarium Navigator. Taking guests through a journey of the cosmos all on you...

       Mason Perry struggled to get the Phoenix microphone away from Jordan when the last "Amen" was said on Jordan's final flight. It was painful to watch.  "It's called tough love," Mason said after the microphone was secure in his hands. "Jordan needed to let go and say goodbye. I did what I had to do to get him out the door. Let it be known throughout the land that the Phoenix is now entering the Age of Mason!" We thought the day would never come, but it did. And when it took its final bow at 11:59 P.M. Saturday it took with it our friend Jordan Smith, a ten year veteran of the Space Center and Former Phoenix Set Director.  Holding his hand throughout his final mission was his padawan Mason Perry and his mentor Jon Parker.  There were others who would never forgive themselves if they hadn't volunteered to serve with Jordan one last time.  Jordan's Last staff for his last mission. And then on Mason's orders (the new Phoenix Set Direc...

My Classroom's Roman Emperor during our Rome Unit       Those of us in the Space EdVentures community know the importance of experiential education. It is our field of expertise. It is what we do with our spaceship simulators and simulations .  I started using simulations  during my student teaching at Central Elementary in 1983.  We used poster board control panels for starship controls. I played the main computer and all characters sitting behind my desk with overhead projector.  My use of simulations went beyond my fictional starship.  I created historical simulations which ran through most of the school year.  These simulations included 1.  World War One living through the Russian experience. 2.   The Russian Revolution of 1917. 3.  The Weimar Republic of Germany 4.  The rise of the Nazi party and World War II 5.  Post World War two and the rise of communism.      Even today former students of ...