If I had had a career day like this when I was in school, who knows where I would be today. Maybe I would be in the Delta Quadrant commanding my own ship, trying to avoid the Kazons and the Borg, while working with the Talaxians and the Ocampans.
This past weekend, I took my family to the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa to check out the new Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience. We are all big science fiction fans in my household, and we have all watched every Star Trek TV show made (including my 14 year old daughter). To say we were excited to join Starfleet Academy is an understatement.
The Star Trek: The Starfleet Academy Experience is located in a hangar beside the Canada Aviation and Space Museum in Ottawa. The Starfleet Academy Experience is an interactive exhibit which uses the Star Trek franchise as a springboard to teach you about science and technology. Star Trek has had a profound impact on the technologies that we use today and continues to influence future technologies and ideas.
Visitors of the exhibit become Starfleet cadets, where you can attempt to beat the Kobayashi Maru test and also pilot a starship from an active bridge. It is also a great way to discover possible career options and interests which you can explore further. You may never pilot a starship but leadership, communication, medical, science and engineering are all possibilities and career choices that are viable for the young and even the older to consider or re-consider. It’s never too late to make a career change or continue learning and growing.
The exhibit is split up into different areas that are all possible career paths in Starfleet; Communications, Medical, Science, Engineering, Navigation, Tactical and Command. When you enter the exhibit you are provided with a Starfleet type watch, which lets you interact with various displays and also enables you to answer recruitment questions in each of the areas mentioned above. At the end of the exhibit you are provided with a certificate and profile which states which area of Starfleet you would best be suited for plus another area of interest. What did Starfleet suggest for me? Read on to find out.
You don’t have to be a huge Star Trek fan to enjoy this experience at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum. It is made to appeal to the novice fan as well as the long time Star Trek aficionado.
There is a lot of information presented throughout the exhibit from the original series (they better keep a close watch on the those Tribbles) all the way through The Next Generation, Voyageur, Deep Space Nine and to Enterprise.
I can’t pick one thing that I liked best as I loved it all! All I can say is Qapla!! (Klingon for Success!!)
Take a look below for more photos that I took while I was there. I highly recommend that if you are in the Ottawa area this summer that you check it out. It is great for the family on those rainy days when the kids are ‘bored’ and ‘have nothing to do’ or on those very hot and humid days when you want to escape into an air conditioned building. The Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Experience will be at the Canada Aviation and Space Museum until September 5, 2016. Don’t miss out! And while you are there don’t forget to visit the museum and check out all the cool planes that they have on display.
Engage
What did I get as my result from the Starfleet recruitment assessment? Command with an interest in Communications.
More Photos from the Star Trek: Starfleet Academy Experience
I was thinking of scheduling a trip to Ottawa for this very museum, I am glad I came across your Post! Good info, thank you.