Stargazing Success: Launching the High School Astronomy Club
Toward the end of freshman year, I came up with the idea of starting an Astronomy Club at my high school (Iroquois Ridge High School). I pitched the concept to my science teacher and explained the positive impact an Astronomy Club could have on our school community. He loved the ideas and directed me through the entire process of starting a club so I could bring my ideas to life. So after a few more emails, the Astronomy Club became official!
Now I needed a team of friends, so I talked to HongYi and Dhruv. They were both eager and shared my passion for astronomy. HongYi was a junior at the time, had a lot of astronomy background, participated in astronomy contests, and had the experience of running a physics club. He helped me with making lessons and teaching me about how clubs run. Dhruv was in my grade, part of the Student Council, and very well-spoken. They both made huge contributions in helping me start the club with their skills and perspectives. He helped me with promotion through social media and posters. He also had a backstage pass in the school’s events, which helped us get from place to place.
Then came summer, when HongYi, Dhruv, and I made the community center library our regular spot to meet up. Together, we created material, events, and activity plans during our brainstorming session to get ready for the upcoming school year. We worked on every detail of the club's structure, from creating engaging slides to designing catchy posters. We thought of making our lessons in the order of the universe, meaning our first lesson would be about the Big Bang, our last meeting would be about how the universe might end, and all the other big topics would be in the middle.
The next school year started, meaning Dhruv and I were now 10th graders and HongYi was a 12th grader. We decided to start working on a stunning trifold poster for the annual club fair hosted behind our school. We all bought supplies and put together a creation to advertise our club to the whole school.
HongYi and I building the poster [Left] and the final poster [Right]
On the day of the club fair, many people came up to our station to sign up. We were excited! We gave out free candy to those who even tried a game Dhruv helped set up at our station. The response we got from the students was great—80 students signed up to join the Astronomy Club!
Pictures from the successful Club Fair
Surprised by the enthusiastic response, we needed to expand our team through executive applications. We welcomed six more individuals through executive applications. With a crew assembled, we were set to hold our first meeting for the public.
Our first meeting took place the next week and it was a huge success. Our room was filled with students (most of them were friends of ours, but whatever) and we got really good feedback about our meetings as well! I was very happy. But this was only the first of many meetings. The astro club at my high school is running currently, and will continue running after I graduate. It feels nice to leave something behind at my school for new students to keep alive.
This is the link to the club’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/irhs_astronomy/
Pictures from the Solar Observation event we held on Sept. 28, 2023