Challenger Center Website: A New Era for a STEM Leader
The Background
Not Because It Is Easy, but Because It Is Hard
Going to the moon was hard. And for the team at the Challenger Center, making edits – big or small – to their website was also extremely difficult. So we had to rebuild it from the ground up.
The Challenger Center was founded to honor the legacy of the shuttle astronauts who lost their lives in the pursuit of science. The education nonprofit, based in Washington, D.C., is dedicated to making STEM education more engaging for students. They needed a new and improved website that made it easy for educators to find the right materials and for their staff to keep up to date.
Given the complexity of the organization and their offerings, making a simple website wasn’t so easy.
The Brief
A Mess of a Wordpress
The Challenger Center’s old website was difficult to manage, particularly when it came to updating content and ensuring educators could easily find and access the materials they needed. The site’s clunky page builder, relying heavily on plugins, led to frequent instability and security issues. These issues made it clear that a complete redesign was necessary to provide a more reliable and user-friendly experience.
"The exploration of the cosmos is a voyage of self-discovery."
– Carl Sagan, Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
The Solution
Breakthrough Developments
We developed a custom WordPress backend for the Challenger Center, simplifying content management while protecting the site’s design and functionality. We redesigned the navigation to make it easier for educators to find and purchase materials, and implemented safeguards to prevent accidental layout changes. The result is a stable, user-friendly platform that meets the Challenger Center’s needs and provides a reliable resource for educators nationwide.
“I’m so happy I could cry!!! Sending high fives to your entire team.”
– The Client
The Impact
One Small Step for STEM
Our collaboration with the Challenger Center resulted in a website that not only meets the organization’s current needs but also supports their future growth. By addressing the core challenges of content management, user experience, and site stability, we created a platform that helps the Challenger Center continue its mission to inspire and engage students in STEM education. A month after the new site launched, the average engagement time – the time a user actively engages with a website – jumped by over 3,069%!