Letter from the CEO

Hello and welcome to 2012 - the year when, according to some predictions, the world as we know it will all come crashing to an end - on December 21 to be precise. Actually, the date is significant but not because it marks the end of the world. If you've seen our immersive full-dome planetarium show Tales of the Maya Skies, you'll know that December 21, 2012 merely marks the end of what's called the Mayan Long Count Calendar, which measured a cycle of 5125 years - or thereabouts. Just like any other calendar, the end of one cycle is followed by the beginning of another and so a new long-count period for the Mayan calendar will begin on December 22. Here at Chabot we'll be screening Tales of the Maya Skies throughout the year and planning some very special events to celebrate 12212012. By the way, NASA has produced a great FAQ page on the subject if you'd like more information.

Meanwhile, this is the time of the year when school field trips begin to get into full swing. Visit the Center on any Wednesday, Thursday or Friday and you'll find the place buzzing with excitement as hundreds of students experience the wonder of a day at Chabot. With over 30 standards based classes to choose from, simulated missions in the Challenger Learning Center®, nature tours in the beautiful surrounding redwood forest and a chance to explore our award winning state-of-the-art exhibits, planetarium shows and historic telescopes, a field trip to Chabot is a never-to- be-forgotten experience. I know it was for me when I first came to Chabot over 40 years ago as a student at Redwood Heights Elementary school.

But you know you don't have to be a kid to go to school. On the 3rd Friday evening of the month adults can come up and check out NightSchool, our evening program for over 18s, where science meets social. Offering a range of activities, workshops, open labs, and discussion groups, themed around a different topic each month, NightSchool is the perfect place to unwind, meet new people and release your inner nerd. In February you can explore just how much fun Detention can be and in March we're offering Extra Credit as we examine the future from a variety of angles.

Finally, I wanted to let you know that the report on the OpenScienceLAB conference that I mentioned last fall is now available. We're continuing to drill down into what we learned and how we can use this information to benefit our visitors' experience here at Chabot. I have also been blogging on this and related topics over the past few months so if you're interested in reading my rants and raves you can find them also on our OpenScienceLAB page.

As always, please feel free to share your comments. You can email me direct at AZwissler@ChabotSpace.org or post your comments to my blog. 

Look forward to seeing  you in Detention!

All the best.

Alexander Zwissler
Executive Director/CEO