La Noche de las Estrellas (LNDLE) is a pioneering visitors night for the Spanish-speaking community at Lick Observatory. This invitation only event hosts approximately 100 high school students and family members from high schools in the Santa Cruz and Monterey counties. These are schools where UCSC has close connections thanks to the work of MESA Schools Program, at Educational Partnership Center, which is Lick’s partner in this endeavor.
Path to development and goals
The La Noche de las Estrellas Project started as required outreach component in a National Science Foundation (NSF) grant. Dr. David Koo and Dr. Sandra Faber were colleagues in the Astronomy department and were the co-PIs on the project. The goal for the project is to introduce Latinx students from local high schools to a working world-class astronomical observatory and thereby open their eyes to the many careers that can be pursued with a STEM college degree. The secondary goals are to inspire science study through astronomy, feature world-leading astrophysicists from Latinx backgrounds, and showcase a large technical facility. A tertiary goal is to invite family members, in addition to students, and thereby instill a wider awareness of the importance to STEM, how to apply to UC Santa Cruz, and demonstrate how their child can achieve great things. LNDLE is not used for classroom teaching, as Dr. Koo and Dr. Faber are retired and no longer teach. However, it does perform an instructional role for participating UC Santa Cruz graduate and undergraduate students.
Each year LNDLE host roughy 60 students and 15 parents and family members. To welcome parents and family and encourage their participation, all talks and signage are in Spanish. The program began in 2017 and has run annually except for two COVID years, when it was cancelled.
“La Noche De Estrellas was a very insightful field trip that provided me with a lot of information of astronomy and brought me interest in the field of astronomy”
– Diana Garcia, Student at Alisal High School in Salinas, CA
Campus collaboration & community engagement
Our audience from the beginning were STEM students in high school. To initiate the program, we needed to contact local high school STEM teachers. After doing some research, it was clear MESA was the ideal UC Santa Cruz partner. MESA has ongoing programs at the high schools, they run a state-wide STEM engineering contest, and they have built relationships with the teachers. Our vision has meshed from the beginning. The student/parent questionnaire responses are overwhelmingly positive, and everyone from UC Santa Cruz who participates finds the program very inspiring, which is why the program is now in its 6th year. Last year we agreed to add eighth grader to the program at MESA’s urging to catch student interest early. That was a great success!
Putting together LNDLE requires a team dedicated to the perseverance of students in higher education, specifically STEM Programs. LNDLE has a team of over 20 undergraduate students, graduate students, and astronomers who coordinate and execute the event. Before the actual La Noche event, the MESA Schools Program and the James Lick Observatory take graduate students to the four to seven different school sites to have an interactive optics demonstration with students. With this demonstration, we hope to share the basics of telescopes with students so there can be a fluid discussion and presentations at the Observatory. Astronomy grad students and UC Santa Cruz STEM undergraduates act as co-hosts at Lick Observatory. They are very effective in making contact with the high school students. The program could not exist without them.
“”It was the only time that I heard science presented in my own language. I was treated with respect.”
– Participating Family Member
Acknowledgments and Funding
We want to acknowledge the following people for their continued backing and assistance throughout the project.
- Dr. Enrico Ramirez-Ruiz (Professor, Astronomy and Astrophysics) has given featured lecture on merging neutron stars and the synthesis of heavy elements. Dr. Ramirez-Ruiz invites honored guests from the Mexican-American community. The Consul-General from the Mexican Consulate is a regular attendee.
- Dr. José de Jesús González González (Director, Instituto de Astronomia, National University of Mexico) flies in regularly from Mexico City to support the the Lick Observatory and the project
- Yulianna Ortega, EdD, (Director, STEM Diversity Research Programs) and her staff who identify ~ 8 UCSC Spanish-speaking undergraduates who serve as Group Guides, one for each high school. Dr. Ortega and staff also attend each event, pass out brochures, and answer questions about applying to UC Santa Cruz and applying for financial aid.
- Dr. Regina Langhout (Professor, Psychology) oversees the research design and program evaluation. She provides a graduate student to administer and co-analyze the results of the questionnaire handed out to students and parents at each event.
It costs roughly $10,000 to put on the event. The UC Santa Cruz affiliates either volunteer or serve as part of their regular duties. The funds pay for the cost of Lick staff time, transportation to and from the high schools, food and snacks for all participants, and analysis of the annual evaluation/questionnaire. Originally funding came from NSF grants. Then a donor provided us with $50,000, which has kept us going for four more years.
“La Noche has widened my horizons. It has taught me much about the circumstances in local Latinx high schools and introduced me to many outstanding members of my community beyond UC Santa Cruz.”
Dr. Sandra Faber, Professor Emerita of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz
Support Team
- Dr. Sandra Faber, Professor Emerita of Astronomy and Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz
- Dr. David Koo, Professor Emeritus/Astronomer in Astronomy & Astrophysics at UC Santa Cruz
- Ana Rodarte, Assistant Director at MESA College Prep
- Alexandria Leckliter, former Director of K–12 STEM Outreach at MESA
- Bruce Macintosh, Director at Lick Observatory
- Matthew Shetrone, Deputy Director at Lick Observatory
- Elinor Gates, Lick Observatory Astronomer
- Astronomy graduate students, roughly 6 each year, who have served as co-hosts, answered questions, shared their knowledge and enthusiasm for astronomy, and learned about how to conduct an outreach event.
- Additional collaborators are ~6 MESA teachers from our partner high schools, which are Watsonville High School; Alisal High School in Salinas, CA; Harbor High School in Capitola, CA; Gonzalez High School and Soledad High School. In certain years we have also included Latinx high schools in San Jose, CA and Group Guides from San Jose State University. Three of these have been partners since the beginning.
- Assorted other Astronomy Department staff
Visit the project website and view our YouTube video. Questions? Contact Dr. Sandra Faber.