SFCC holding Star Party to raise funds for astronomy program
Oct. 16—Programs to get kids excited about science cost money, so the Santa Fe Community College Foundation is holding a Star Party this weekend for $50 per person in hopes of generating funding for the college's astronomy program.
Saturday's party will feature a livestream presentation from Chicago's Adler Planetarium, projected at the college's planetarium. The program includes interviews with scientists and astronomers, a walk-through of some of Adler's stargazing facilities and a look at Comet C/2023 A3, which Adler telescopes are tracking.
The comet, discovered in January, wowed people in the Southern Hemisphere earlier this month when it came within about 44 million miles of Earth. It was so bright, people could see it without a telescope. Later this month, it's expected to become one of the brightest comets visible in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 100 years.
The Star Party will take place from 5 to 7 p.m. and will include commentary from Santa Fe Stargazers, a local night sky-watching club that has partnered with the college for over a year. The college helps the Stargazers throw events like last year's eclipse watch party, and the Stargazers help the college manage and refurbish old telescopes and astronomical equipment.
The $50 tickets will raise funds for telescopes, which are integral to SFCC's Space and Earth Experience program, a big draw for campus visitors. They'll also be used for star parties.
Kelly Trujillo, SFCC's associate dean of health and sciences, said when he joined the college in 2022, he was surprised to find the planetarium's extensive resources were largely unused. Trujillo applied for and won a grant from UNIDOS, which stands for Undergraduate Institutions Developing Opportunities in STEM.
The grant provided funding for Santa Fe schools to visit the college's Space and Earth Experience, which includes the planetarium, an aquaponic farm to teach approaches to water use and "Science on a Sphere," a spherical projection system developed by the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The sphere is one of 170 in the world, Trujillo said, and was brought to Santa Fe when an SFCC board member saw one in Beijing and made the push for the college to get one.
Word of the opportunity spread, and since 2022, more than 4,000 children have visited the Space and Earth Experience.
"We have a hard time scheduling everybody who wants to come," Trujillo said.
Trujillo, a biologist and former high school teacher, said programs like these are important for getting kids to see science represented in the everyday world and to become familiar with a college campus.
"You know, a lot of the students from this region don't feel they're college material — whatever that means. And I want them to feel comfortable on a college campus. I want them to stay interested in science."
The goal is not just for students to get jobs in the field someday, Trujillo said: "It's about understanding how science is relevant."
Monte del Sol students, for example, had a program about Mayan astronomy — the ways the night sky and constellations related to Mayan religion and law.
"It makes it more culturally relevant," Trujillo said. "It's not just about black holes and dark matter and, you know, all these things that we don't really understand. It's about connecting it to things that we feel are important to us."
Trujillo said he can tell students are engaged when they start asking questions, including questions Trujillo sometimes doesn't have the answer to. But it's important, he said, for kids to see that not every question is answered yet.
"I'm not an expert in astronomy," Trujillo said, "but just to see someone like me say, 'You know, that's a great question. I really don't know. That's awesome that you thought of that' — that really builds their confidence and also encourages them to ask more questions, not just with me, but in their own classrooms and in their households and in their life."
Children are natural scientists, Trujillo said: "They question their world."
A 3-year-old might ask 50 questions a day, he said. "They're natural inquisitors, and that's what science is. It's just about looking in your surroundings and coming up with questions and then building the tools to answer those questions on your own."
