When kids come to space camp they get to do several things. They get to do the simulators; 1/6th gravity chair, (simulates how it would be to walk on the moon) the MMU (basically it sims what it would be like to use those big jet pack things they used for a while to maneuver in space) G-Force (simulates the pressure of G’s [gravity]) and several others. They also get to build and shoot off model rockets and do other science expeiriments. we have some other fun things they get to do like the mars simulator, climbing wall, IMAX movie and during the summer they get to swim. Then, of course, the biggie… the MISSION. Depending on what program you do you can have 1 or more missions. Kids are either part of the shuttle crew, up on the space station, or in mission control. I remember when I came to Space Academy when I was 14 that the missions were definitely what I looked forward to. They have time to rehearse for the mission and then they go through it completely the next day.
Another big part of Space Camp is the history. The history is part of the reason there is a space camp. As a counselor it is up to us (for the most part) to pass on that history. Throughout the week we will have scheduled “briefings” to teach the kids about early space history, the Mercury program, the Gemini program, and the Apollo program. for the past week (have I really been here that long?) we have been going over this stuff over and over and over and over. We have to know this stuff so we can teach it to the kids.
So why am I telling you all this? Well tonight we had the first of our teach backs. For teach backs our team is split up into smaller groups and we each picked a topic out of a hat. The topic we picked out of the hat is what we have to present like we were teaching it to a group of kids. so with out group plus the grader we head to the museum and take turns presenting our topics. I am sure that all of you who know me know how much I hate to get up and speak in front of a group (so why do I want to work at camp where I regularly have to do this?) but I actually did pretty well. I was the 3rd to go so I got to see some of the others go and hear the feed back that was given to them. It also helped that we could have not cards to help us remember things like dates and stuff. We were also told a pretty good tip about hiding your notes in one of the mission books like the kids get so the kids don’t know that you have anymore info than they do in their books. During my feedback session I told my group that I felt like I was looking at my notes a lot but they said it didn’t seem like it… that could be because I had a light blinding me through the whole thing though. Now that I went through all that your probably wondering what exactly I was presenting about. I drew Gemini, which was kinda lucky because it was one of two (out of five) that I felt most comfortable teaching. The other being Mercury. you’d think with all I know about Apollo that that wouldn’t be to bad but their are a lot more missions and people to remember in that and not near as many funny stories. I don’t know what my grade was for the teach back yet but I know I didn’t fail so that means I at least got an 18 out of 25.
my training manual inside and out and one of the camper mission journals
Now that we have our history teach back out of the way… we have our history test tomorrow. I do not anticipate this being all that bad. We get to bring a 3×5 card with writing front and back as kind of a little cheat sheet to help us remember dates and stuff. As I think I mentioned earlier we have to pass it with at least an 85%. We have had several quizzes so far and I have done okay with those. In fact, my whole mentoring team has done well on them. We have won the knowledge stick (for team with highest cumulative score) both times so far (well, I think we won today).
One of the things that we have been told is that we can use props and other stuff when teaching. I have been to the gift shop (for which I get a discount) several times and have spotted several things I’m going to get once I’ve gotten paid. For instance, I’m going to get the little toy model set of all the rockets and the shuttle, I am going to get a cupple of the mission patches, and there might have been something else but I don’t remember what off the top o my head… I’ve got a list somewhere. One of the many people who has talked to us and done some of our training suggested a couple of books I want to get as well.
We did do some some stuff other than jsut history today. We learned how to put the eingins in the rockets that we have now built twice (out of thousands more we’ve been told) and we got to launch them. My rocket had no problems and it managed to land safely. Some Rockets weren’t so lucky and got stuck in the trees. In fact, the trees behind the launch pad have hindreds of rockets stuck in them.
My two rockets Fireball I & II, the F-II after landing, Look at all the rockets in the trees… (Have I mentioned how everyone loves my name and I am pretty sure that I’ve already got the nickname Fireball?)
So if any of you are in the Huntsville area and you let me know at least two weeks ahead of time so I can get time off, I’ll give you a privet tour… and I’ll probably know what I’m talking about by then. Also, I get discounts for people here and at the Marriott down the road (I’m pretty sure I do anyway.)
If anyone wants my contact info, let me know and I’ll get it to you as soon as I know it. Every time I go by camper services to get my mailbox the lady is not there.
I got to go to bed now so I will be awake during my test tomorrow.
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