Fleet-wide Summit a Huge Success— May 2016 Community of Practice Meeting Recap

There’s something magical that we take for granted far too often.  We’re so immersed in it every day that we rarely step back and realize just how unusual it is.

The Dream Flight Adventures community—the wizards behind the green curtains—are really a varied bunch.  We have science teachers, coaches, tech instructors, museum directors, gifted and talented coordinators, entrepreneurs, principals, Trekkies, PhDs, roboticists, and scout masters all working together to create unparalleled educational adventures for our children.  It’s truly humbling to see this great group of friends push the envelope in education day in and day out.

Earlier this week these heroes met at the IKS Dreamcatcher for our second formal Community of Practice Meeting.

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Attendees: Scott Ross and Mike Kaleta from Baldwin-Whitehall; Brian Colgan from Burrell; Heather Oros and Mike Penn from Shaler Area; Jamie Harris, Dr. Melissa Tamburrino, Jeff DerVanik, Kristin Brown, and Barry Plowman from Penn Hills… and one very interested security guard (see below)!

The meeting was a huge success. We talked about lots of nuts and bolts, how to’s and what not to’s, missions, and lots of other interesting stuff. Some of the bigger topics were the YMCA at Baldwin, how to schedule missions most effectively, ideas for new missions, and ways to better open simulators to birthday events and other community interests.

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Everyone got a poster for each of the missions and four sets of crew cards… but most importantly we are a bunch of friends who all do the same awesome things in lots of different places. Exactly what a Community of Practice should be!

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And this brings us to the security guard. When Mike Penn first arrived at Penn Hills Elementary he had to give his driver’s license to be scanned in.  During that process his phone’s ring tone rang (it’s a sound clip from Star Trek: The Next Generation – Worf saying “We are being hailed Sir, Priority One message coming in on a secure channel.”)  The security guard whipped his head around and said something like “Year two, Episode 5.”  When Mike explained that he was there to visit the simulator he became even more enthusiastic. He had never been invited to see it, so Mike of course invited him to come up and check it out!

He was enthralled with the whole thing—he was like one of the kids who immediately was a real crew member on the bridge of the Enterprise NCC-1701-D ready to fight the Borg. It was great sharing the magic with him!

Stay tuned for more updates—there’s never a dull moment onboard this fleet.  Until next time…

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