Why Star Trek?
I was that child who grew up on a steady diet of Sci-Fi and Fantasy mixed with Historical Fiction. I was named for a character out of a sci-fi/fantasy book after all, and now, as an adult, I realized I haven't really grown out of that make-believe mentality. I wanted to go to PERN, and the Witch World, and Star Fleet Academy, but all of those places...they aren't real. Most would let it go. Between work, family, and just being an adult, there's little time for fantasizing. But no matter what I've done in my life a tiny part hold on to the thought of "what if?".
And you know what? It doesn't matter if I can never go to these places because they aren't real. I have the time and money (sometimes) to indulge a little. Some people go to conventions, I decided to make my own version of Star Fleet Academy, and PERN, and the Witch World. How?
School...and the S.C.A.
School is pretty much my default for most things, to be honest. University and academia in general are places I've spent most of my life in. I'm comfortable there and I know the rules, but there are no rules for fantasy, so there really isn't anyone to tell me I'm wrong either. The S.C.A. is a bit different. There are rules, and I play within them as I need to, but that's a different blog.
Here's my thing. I really wanted to do maybe three things as a kid and for some reason, I never did. So I've decided to rectify that as only an overachieving type-b personality would - I'll do it my own dang self.
So, Star Trek. I always wanted to be a Science officer in Star Trek and that means attending Star Fleet Academy. No SFA? No problem. I'll make my own. I started by going through the official Star Trek sites and came across the courses and majors offered at Star Fleet Academy. Then I went and compared my real degrees to it and came up with a relatively plausible double-major in Agriculture and Anthropology (my BA is in Anthropology, MSc in Organic Agriculture, MSc in Agroecology, and PhD in Agricultural Economics said that's probably appropriate). There are, however, a few key courses that I haven't actually taken that I should to make it as accurate as possible. So that's my first goal.
Star Fleet Academy is divided into the following Colleges:
Starfleet Command School
- Helm/Navigation
- Intelligence
Starfleet Engineering School
- Communications/Operations
- Engineering
Division of Arts & Sciences
- Science
Division of Health Sciences
- Counseling
- Nursing
- Starfleet Medical Academy
- Medicine
Starfleet Academy Survival Training
- Security
- Tactical
Starfleet Marine Corps
- Marine Officer Training
Additional Educational Opportunities
- Academy Field Training Program
Now, my personal choice is the Division of Arts and Science.
Starfleet requires the Sciences cadet to study at least two specializations. A number of specializations are accepted:
- Agriculture
- Anthropology & Archaeology
- Astronomy
- Biology
- Botany
- Chemistry
- Ecology
- Evolution Genetics
- Geology
- History
- Linguistics
- Meteorology
- Microbiology
- Nanotechnology
- Oceanography Physics
- Sexology & Gender Studies
- Sociology
- Urban Studies
- Xenology
- Zoology
The core courses are as follows:
- Administration
- ADMIN101: Starfleet Operations
- ADMIN110: Chain of Command and General Protocol
- Diplomacy
- DIPL101: General
- Engineering
- ENG221: LCARS Programming 1
- ENG231: Computer Memory and Personnel Interfaces
- ENG232: Replicators, Transporters and Holodecks
- ENG233: Sensors, Communications and Helm Systems
- History
- HIST101: Birth of the Federation
- Language
- LANG101: Federation Standard
- LANG1_0: (Major Species)
- Level 100: Elementary
- Law
- LAW101: Federation, General
- Mathematics
- MATH101: Concepts
- Medicine
- MED101: First Aid and Field Medicine
- Physics
- PHYS101: Concepts
- Piloting
- PILOT101: Runabouts and Shuttles
- Survival
- SURV101: Starship Emergencies
- SURV110: Environmental Suits and Zero-G Training
- Tactics
- TAC101: Combat, Unarmed
- TAC110: Combat, Small Weapons
- Xenobiology
- BIO101: Concepts
- Xenology
- XEN101: General
- Astronomy
- Astrophysics, General
- Astrophysics, Advanced
- Chemistry
- Physical Chemistry 1
- Physical Chemistry 2
- Physics
- At least 5 courses.
- Xenobiology
- At least 6 courses.
- Specialization
- At least 10 courses.
Now, if you're thinking 'Some of those aren't real...' yeah, you're right, they aren't. Which means I need a modern equivalent.
So, first step, identify all courses I already have that are exactly what would be required, then find modern equivalents for those that don't exist, and then figure out what I'm missing.
