ASM Astronomy Essay on The Chicago Astronomer Jan 2024
Jan 19, 2024 0:29:30 GMT -6
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Post by Chicago Astronomer - Astro Joe on Jan 19, 2024 0:29:30 GMT -6
After School Matters Astronomy Student Writes an excellent essay on her experience with the Chicago Astronomer
January 2024
January 2024
Sometimes, we meet a a young person who just needed a chance to explore things that you love to talk about and make an impression. One of my ASM Astronomy students choose me as her subject of her class essay project....I am honored. The essay is lively, has personality and engages the reader on her observations and experience in my programs. Jade is a valued Astronomy student and all teachers should be so lucky to have one of her.
Jade interviewed me several times, came out to my Chicago Astronomer events and overall was a great Astro student and I am very proud of her. She will be back in the Spring/Summer, 2024 but here is her Essay on the Chicago Astronomer.....
Excelsior...!!!
Astro Joe
Meet the Chicago Astronomer, and how he’s connecting the city
The first time I stepped into Mr. Guzman’s classroom was in September, but now it feels like coming home.
Mere slivers of the wallpaper are visible due to all the constellation maps and NASA mission memorabilia plastered up. Battery-operated planet models, stargazing manuals frayed from decades of use, and adorably plump tardigrade plushies (the sole creature known to survive the vacuum of space) are cluttered on every possible surface. Proudly perched on the highest shelves, however, are the room’s most prized possessions. These are the various spacecrafts constructed by each group of his students: homemade foil-covered models of the James Webb Telescope, an ARTEMIS rocket, and most recently made by our Fall 2023 cohort, a 36-inch replica of the International Space Station.
But Mr. Joe Guzman is the clear center of the room. He’s a self-proclaimed space geek with more NASA t-shirts than he can count on his fingers, but he’s more than your average space enthusiast. His passion for astronomy has transformed Chicago public parks and taught the next generation of astronomers to look at Chicago’s skyline not for its twinkling skyscrapers, but for its constellations and moons.
As a kid, Joe affectionately recalls sneaking his father’s binoculars in the backyard and being inexplicably drawn to the night sky. “I didn’t know what I was looking at,” Joe chuckles. “but I had a connection to what I was seeing and I was enjoying it! It wasn’t until decades later that I realized why I had that connection.” He was always interested in an astronomy career yet later admitted he let go of that fantasy as “being a young Latino male meant a lot of doors were closed.” After retiring from decades of community liaison work with the Chicago Police Department, Joe turned to amateur astronomy as a hobby and began taking his telescope near the Chicago lakefront. While viewing nearby celestial objects, passersby would notice Joe peering into the telescope and ask to take a look themselves. In mere minutes, an entire crowd had formed, craning their necks to get a glimpse of Jupiter. This interest eventually manifested into an email list of hundreds of space-hungry Chicagoans. Joe noticed this community-wide demand and founded the Chicago Astronomer, an educational organization partnering with the Chicago Park District that brings the joy of the cosmos to everyday people.
Each week, Joe along with a small crew of space enthusiasts set up telescope viewing sessions in the public parks of Chicago, bringing the views of space directly to the various neighborhoods of Chicago. Toddlers to senior citizens are welcome, and it’s no surprise these weekly events attract hundreds of visitors. Everyone’s eyes are locked on the sky, gasps of awe escaping their lips as they try to trace Saturn’s rings with their fingers. Too many have never touched a telescope in their lives.
Joe is now an instructor for After School Matters, a non-profit organization linking Chicago high schoolers with a diverse range of jobs and paid program opportunities. His Space & Astronomy program, first piloted in 2017, now regularly attracts upwards of 500 applicants from every corner of the city. This is where his classroom comes into use. His lessons are a stark contrast from the monotone teachers students are too familiar with; Joe transforms teaching astronomy into a performance. He crouches into a ball to reenact the crowded environments the first astronauts experienced, flourishing plasma balls to demonstrate the movement of electrons in the Northern lights, or sheets of stretchy fabric plus a handful of marbles to explain the concept of gravity wells. As a student of Joe’s, our fondest memories were the classes spontaneously stargazing in Millennium Park: our cheeks would ache for hours afterward from smiling so much. Those days made me especially proud to be a speck of dust staring straight up at the glossy dark canvas. Many fellow ASM Astronomy participants share this sentiment that this class has been unlike any other.
“My favorite part so far being here has been how we can just go on and on about certain subjects,” laughs Yvette, a high school sophomore who initially knew little about astronomy. “For example, we watched a video predicting what our universe looks like, but we couldn’t finish the video since we were all talking. I really enjoyed listening to people's opinions and theories.” Another student talks animatedly about Joe embracing all the tangents and “what-if” questions his students bring up regardless if he fully knows the topic. He added: “Teachers like that are rare. Many just want to get the class over with, but Joe lets our imagination grow.”
Joe hasn’t had much time to rest since the end of this year’s fall program. His Chicago Astronomer responsibilities continue to pile as his team gears up for another viewing session this Friday. His upcoming ASM winter immersion program is rapidly approaching, entailing the review of another couple hundred applicants. He’s also long overdue for a haircut (his words, not mine.) But when asked about what the best thing a student of his has told him, his eyes glimmered and immediately asserted, “Hearing ‘thank you for hiring me.’ I don’t do it for the thanks, but it’s nice to hear.”
This brings us to the disappointing reality that teens lack astronomy opportunities and curricula in their schools. There are plenty of people who dismiss the field as foolish and futile. Yet while exploring our universe may sound idealistic compared with other sciences, there’s nothing wrong with doing a bit of dreaming. NASA states: “Humans are driven to explore the unknown, discover new worlds, push the boundaries of our scientific and technical limits, and then push further.” It’s crucial to support this ongoing push by supporting astronomy classes in more Chicago Public Schools, not just the highest-funded. We can also recognize more astronomers like Joe, who’re working to expand the field’s audience to more than the white men it has historically been catered for. After all, outer space intertwines with every single being on this earth.
Remember that initial connection Joe had with the cosmos even as a young boy? The link that took decades for him to finally explain? It’s actually an innate physical attraction that all humans have. What we’re made of: the calcium in our teeth, iron in our blood, and oxygen we breathe– they are all elements melded from the very stars that exploded in our universe from the beginning of the Big Bang. Everything is recycled, reused, reborn. We are physically connected with our universe, and Mr. Joe has taught thousands of Chicagoans you can only realize that if you start looking up
