Archon 38 Keeping the Science in Science Fiction

O'Fallon Robotics, Challenger Learning Center On Hand with Demonstrations

If your opinion of science fiction conventions is all robots and rockets... well, you're right. But it's not just fantasy costumes and panel discussions about which Doctor Who is the Doctor Who -- at least it is at Archon, the premiere science fiction convention for the St. Louis metro area, held annually in Collinsville, Illinois. Yes, your senses will be initially assaulted by a flood of steampunkers, furries, superheroes, and uber-fans. But after a few moments, you'll start to notice people who are more... oh, let's just risk it all and say "normal" clustered here and there among the crowd.

Among these islands of relative comfort, you will run into people like teenagers Dani Smith and Kaela Faragher, who represent the O'Fallon Robotics Team.

Robots aren't the only happening thing at Archon (although they're certainly fun to watch). There's also the booth for the Challenger Learning Center. This is a very cool organization dedicated to teaching space sciences to kids of all ages. On hand were Caitlyn Rettke and Matt Wandling to explain a little bit about the program, and the activities planned for some hands-on education at this Archon.

So next time you're tempted to think about all the crazy, out-of-this-world hijinks that goes on at a science fiction convention, remember: there's a lot of real science happening here. Check out both their sites for more information about the cool things these two organizations do.