“Wow, these are my people”

Logan Rex is a 2018 graduate of the Ashbrook Scholar Program and is the Head Curator and Communications Director at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum. In 2023 he was appointed by Governor Mike DeWine to the Tourism Ohio Advisory Board and will be the recipient of Ashland University’s Young Alumnus Award.

Where are you from originally, and how did you end up at Ashland University and in the Ashbrook Scholar Program?
I am from Lima, Ohio.
My older brother was a student at AU, which was a reason why I didn’t want to come to Ashland. I didn’t want to go to the same college as my brother—I was supposed to be on my own! I tried not looking at Ashland. Eventually he said that Ashland had a fantastic history program, since I was interested in history. He told me that I needed to come and check out Ashbrook. He thought it would be a great opportunity. I finally agreed to come and take a tour, but I was still set on finding my own college. I came to campus for Siblings Weekend after having gone to Miami, Toledo, Tiffin, and Findlay. Those campuses never felt right. The history departments were off in some renovated houses in some cases. But when I came to Ashland, it just felt kind of homey. They took me up to the Ashbrook Center, and the elevator doors opened. It was almost that eureka moment. Looking around and seeing everyone, seeing the presidents and the speakers on the walls, that blue carpet and the glass office, it was just like, “wow, these are my people.” They were having conversations that I was interested in. It was fantastic to see, and it really was that moment of, “this feels right.”

What year did you start at Ashland?
I started in 2014 and graduated in 2018.
I had interviewed with Dr. Schramm, and had the opportunity to be with him in his last year of teaching. I miss it now. I am in the air and space field. It is history, but that time at Ashbrook was the only time in my life where we were asking, “what is justice, what are these concepts?” Sometimes you take that for granted, because these aren’t things that people mull over. That was a very special time, a set period in your life where you took on these very advanced concepts that people have been discussing for thousands of years. I am so lucky, because that is a lens that I look through in my career and my family. I was very lucky to be a part of that.

Tell us about what you do at the Armstrong Air and Space Museum and how you ended up there.
I started out at a county museum, and I saw an opening at the Armstrong Museum and thought it would be an interesting area of history to work in. The moon landing just encompasses so much about American exceptionalism and how we are supposed to be a shining city. It represents a great moment in American history—that this nation can come together and do extraordinary things that no civilization had ever done before. This isn’t only peak American history, it is peak humanity! I get to help tell that story. That is what initially attracted me to come into this museum.
I started in the curations department and slowly worked my way up. Now I am the head curator and the communications director. On the curator side of things, I am in charge of telling that story. There are so many things we could tell people about the moon landing, so my job is to narrow that down and ask how we can tell this story accurately and interestingly while meeting people on different levels. Not everyone learns in the same way, so we try to communicate that story in the best way possible—whether that is through artifacts, video, or audio. I preserve the artifacts themselves. I manage NASA and Smithsonian loans.
On the communication side I try to let people know that we are here. We get about 40,000 people visiting every year. We like to say that we are Ohio’s place in space. We do press releases, marketing campaigns, and social media. It is interesting, because usually the curator is the shy introvert and the marketer is the extroverted person going out into the field and trying to contact everyone. People find it hard to believe that the curator and the marketer are the same person.

How did your Ashbrook education prepare you for your career?
I think one thing I can attribute to my Ashbrook education is my writing. My style of writing changed in my four years there. I think that had a lot to do with our teachers and the way they wanted us to convey ideas. I think back to Dr. Sikkenga’s Constitutional Rights class. You had to be very succinct and accurate, and I think the same holds true for press releases, marketing campaigns, and museum displays. You have to convey hard things into relatable ideas. There is that old saying, “it isn’t rocket science.” Well, here at the museum, it is literally rocket science—we have to find a way to convey these very complex formulas and ideas in a way that is understandable. We usually try to keep it at a sixth-grade reading level—usually in 150 words or less. On the marketing side, you have to write things that will convince someone to come here with very few words.

How do you handle claims that the moon landing was faked? I imagine you get that regularly.
It is challenging, especially with the rise of the internet—everybody has a voice now. We have to rise to the standard. I always give credit to the YouTubers who are challenging the moon landing. I don’t believe they are correct, but they do tell the story in a way that is convincing, so you do have to give them credit for that. They are convincing people, so I have to look at how they are convincing people. That raises the bar for me and pushes me to be more convincing than them. I do not approach them as if they were idiots that need to be cast aside. They are bringing up things that they don’t really understand—usually it is the science, because it is still hard to believe that humanity can do such things. I think that is part of the problem. Since 1969, what has America done that we can look at and be like, “Wow! That is amazing”? It is understandable why people find it hard to believe. That makes me rise up and present the evidence that I see and understand and make my case. As a curator, that means I have to tell the story even better. It is hard, because people are usually so ingrained in that ideology, and it really just comes down to distrust. They have a lack of trust in government. They don’t believe the government can tell the truth. It is completely understandable. Look back over the past 50 years. There are things the government has done that make people wonder if they can trust the government.

You were appointed by Governor DeWine to the Tourism Ohio Advisory Board. How did that come about, and what do you do on that Board?
That started back in 2023. I had always been a supporter of Governor DeWine—I know a lot of people aren’t. I didn’t believe in everything he had done, but there isn’t a politician with whom I agree on everything they have done. Ultimately, I thought that he was a good individual and an honest politician. He had been to the museum several times since my career started here. They approached me when there was an opening for the Tourism Ohio Advisory Board. It intrigued me. I love Ohio. So many people when they graduate from high school or college want to leave Ohio. In terms of states, we have it pretty good. Trying to promote Ohio in a good light always appealed to me. So when the governor’s office approached me, I thought it was a great fit.
There have been challenges. The General Assembly had taken the budget from $10 million to $7.5 million. We had to make some tough decisions about how to allocate these funds. Ohio, in terms of Midwest states, has the lowest tourism budget. At one point, Michigan had a $40 million budget and Indiana had a $17 million budget. We are being outspent drastically by states around us. Ohio is also looking for investment. It isn’t just a good place to visit, it is a good place to live, work, and invest—all of that is under the “Ohio, The Heart of it All” umbrella. We’re not just appealing to weekend travelers, we have to appeal to the ideas of living, working, and investing in companies here.

Congratulations on the recent news that you will be receiving the Ashland University Young Alumnus Award. Can you tell us anything about that?
I was very honored to be named. I was looking at the past recipients. It was humbling to think that AU views me in the likes of those other alumni. There have been some great recipients in the past. Being viewed in the same light as those individuals is very flattering. I’m just ultimately glad people still think I’m young! There will be a day when people stop saying that. It really is an honor, though, and it makes me strive to do more. I am looking forward to being around the others in the recipient class—they have all done such amazing things.

Is there anything you would like to say to your fellow Ashbrook alums?
It has always been fun to go out in my career whether I am at a conference or I’m at the Statehouse or some other area and I mention that I went to Ashland. They will ask if I know someone who also went to Ashbrook. It is always fun to see where Ashbrooks have ended up. It is a fantastic network. Usually wherever I go, and it doesn’t have to be related to political science or history, Ashbrooks have been interwoven into different fields of work. It is amazing to see that this network is so vast. It fills me with pride, because these people are like yourself. It is reassuring, because they have been taught in the same way as you and they have the same knowledge background. I may not agree with them, but they have also contemplated questions like, “what is justice?”. They have been pressed on very hard issues. There is a trust there when I am working with an Ashbrook, because they have a similar background as I did in my education.