National Air and Space Museum

My middle name (James) is short for James Tiberius Kirk, mum thought that Tiberius would've been too obvious.

I went into mechanical engineering while my sister went into high level physics.

Growing up in the South (central Virginia), I was taught that blacks and whites could be friends, but never date or be together. It just wasn't done. It was against the Bible. I was taught (subtly) that homosexuality was wrong. That other religions were not "true". Then I saw Star Trek. I was born in 1963, so, for all intents and purposes, Star Trek had been there my whole life with its message of equality, and treating people the same and that differences were not something just to tolerate, but in which to rejoice. This changed my perspective at a fundamental level. Even as a a child I saw racism and bigotry as an idiotic waste. My Trekkie view of the world served me well as a policeman, and later, as a father. I have continued this teaching and all four of my kids are Trekkies to one degree or another.
Of course, I have always loved the spaceships and the phasers, and the other Treknology and geeky stuff, but that core message of "Infinite diversity through infinite combinations" has rung in my ears throughout the years. Star Trek has been as meaningful and as transformational in my life as any religion could be. It has made me a better man; a better citizen of the world.
Truly, live long, and prosper Star Trek, and Happy Birthday!

When Star Trek first premiered, I was only six, but I remember the few times I saw it. No, it wasn't till the early 1970's that Trek and I began a life long friendship. Too young to grasp it originally but the perfect age at the perfect time to "grok" it when I was 12.

I was a tall, gangly kid, taller than most of my classmates. I was too smart for every one else's taste, throwing off the curve and so feeling a bit alienated. Then me and my small cadre of like minded friends found the syndicated version of Star Trek on the local UHF station, channel 50 here in Detroit. And suddenly... Clarity. The characters, the stories, the aligories spoke to us and helped us come to grips with a pretty messed up world.

I remember sitting on the bleachers at my church's gym when another kid came up and sat beside me. I didn't know him and never seen him there before, but he looked about my age, 10 or 11yrs old. We sat quietly for a few minutes watching the older kids play basketball when "the life changing" topic came up. He asked me about Star Trek TNG and our quiet introvert selves kicked off the greatest conversation two 11yr old boys could have. That moment in time created best friends of twenty plus years; friends that would grow in life depicting the best happy, sad, and adventurous memories one could only hope for.

I joined the U.S. Navy and entered the Submarine Force because that was was as close to going to space as I could get. My Boat was the U.S.S. La Jolla SSN-701, not quite 1701 either. But it was good enough for me. Instead of Romulons & Klingons we had the Ruskies. A week doesn't go buy that I don't watch an episode. It's part of our culture and will, for some of us, always be part of us.

My name is Deanna, I am 25 years old, and I was named after Deanna Troi from Star Trek: The Next Generation. My mom still makes jokes about how I am half Betazoid. It's the best namesake anyone could hope for.

I remember watching Star Trek as a child in Brazil. At that time I had no idea how much it would influence me and my imagination. At that age (and now) the aliens and creatures fascinated and intrigued me. At that time, I had no idea where it would lead me. I have followed the series my whole life. And though my career path started in the medical field, I am now a Special Fx Makeup Artist in the national capital. I now get to recreate all the monsters and aliens that I thought were fascinating during the show. I had the privilege to have done the makeup for characters at The Starfleet Gala at Ottawa Aviation and space Museum. I got to create Klingons and Vulcans for the first stop on a multi-city North American tour. So, you could say it influenced my career a lot.

I remember when I first saw Star Trek. I was six, had never watched anything save Lost in Space, which even as a child, I found, well, childish. Star Trek was a revelation. A cool ship, great (for their time) special effects (even though they couldn't make planets), and a multi-racial cast.

This was something I'd never seen before. Growing up in Canada during the turbulent 1960's, I didn't have that great an understanding of the racial tensions the USA was experiencing, but I knew something about it.

While in the Army as a medical corpsman in the 70's, I attended my first Star Trek convention. There I saw an ASCII terminal playing a Star Trek game. I had to find out how it worked. I spoke with the operator who showed me the source code listing in the programming language BASIC. I was amazed and enthralled. If I could not fly the Enterprise in reality, I could pilot her virtually. That event led me to an Apple ][, Apple Trek, and my career in programming and later computer networking and all things IT.

Star Trek, specifically the Original Series, was singular in giving me a visual of peace on earth. At the time I first watched these, in the syndication of the 1970-80's, the world was divided on the heals of the cold war. Armchair fears made us question our neighbors all across the planet...not any different than today. When I watched Star Trek I saw Earth as leader of the Federation of Planets. It seemed like there was no doubt our planet would survive. The show was built around the concept of resolving conflict; almost to the letter each episode is still relatable. Thank you Star Trek for being awesome and still relevant.

I remember to like Star Trek since i was a kid, in Venezuela the show wasnt very popular but i love it since the first show, it let me travel where no kid has gone before, but i never was able to find a friend who like it also, i was always the odd kid who likes scifi movies and japanese cartoons, but i always keep looking until a web page on early 2000, called hispatrek, made a call to arms from all trekkers on Venezuela, i couldn' t believe it the first 3 people on that reunion grew to 10, in a couple of years and now, we are a non profit ngo with the objective of teaching science, using practicals examples presented on the show, to kids and any enthusiast eager to learn, we have just reached 15 year of working in this area, and we are happy to celebrate it along with the 50 years of our favorite show, LLAP STAR TREK.

Star Trek had a profound impact on me as a youth in a number of ways. First, it inspired my creativity. I spent much of the 5th and 6th grades (mid-1970s) drawing and redrawing the Enterprise, her shuttles, other Starfleet ships of the line, and Klingon vessels. I still do a lot of drawing, though rarely do I focus on space vessels.

As I grew a bit older, I began making my own costumes, props, and model ships of my own design. I really wanted to become a Hollywood prop maker when I graduated high school and headed off to college, but fearing the need to be more practical, I settled for a science degree instead, another love spurred on throughout my primary and secondary education by my love of Trek.