STEMarts Taos: AstroYouth
This ‘place-based’ AstroYouth program offers students workforce opportunities through paid internships and student-led STEAM projects, connecting them to space through their community and beyond
Taos Chapter
The STEMarts AstroYouth program will serve as a model for other communities. We are a place-based initiative offering students workforce opportunities through paid internships and student-led projects. The program cultivates space literacy, introduces students to careers in space and science industries, and empowers them to create projects such as ‘AstroTourism’ tours in Taos, podcasts, and XR installations that share their knowledge with and for the Taos community.
We provide our AstroYouth leaders with continuous opportunities to learn about space science, explore its cultural relevance in Taos, and develop skills for future careers in the space industry through a student-driven learning approach. The research culminates with a multimedia project that communicates the significance of place-based space.The key topic areas are: Place-based space, Dark skies; why it matters, and AstroTourism. Thanks to the Lor Foundation and LANL Community Partnership Office for helping us to launch this new program.
Place-based Space
Place-Based Space is an overarching and continuous theme that will be integrated into every module, emphasizing how space science and exploration must be uniquely connected to the local environment, culture, and community of Taos. We will take an integrated, learner-driven approach, ensuring that each activity encompasses multiple modules rather than focusing on just one. This approach allows for a comprehensive exploration of topics, driven by the interests and engagement of the participants.
What’s happening
Our kick-off event was the Earth-Space VR Lounge at the outdoor PASEO Festival in Taos, New Mexico on September 15,16, 2023. This sci-art installation was an immersive virtual reality experience that explored our relationship to earth, as a way to deepen our stewardship to planet earth and space. Since then we have been holding student bootcamps and field trips to develop the space curriculum with student feedback, and developed an annual space-themed STEMarts International Design Challenge for teachers. We are excited to welcome Arwen Hubbard, NASA Solar System Ambassador, science communicator and science podcaster, as the curriculum designer and science mentor for the STEAM Youth in Space program.
Below are some of the programs and trainings we facilitated in 2023 as part of our research and development phase. We are excited to share our 2024 Space Youth Leader program for 2025. Stay tuned!
Our partners
With a strong commitment to inclusivity and environmental responsibility, we strive to build a more diverse, sustainable, and equitable future on Earth and in space. Our key science and tech partners include the Q Station and Space Valley Foundation, as part of the Space for Earth-Space for All initiative; Space lawyer, Michelle Hanlon, For All Moonkind; Future Focus21c; SMARTlab Skelligs; Scientist/educators: Dr. Steven Goldfarb, CERN physicist; Dr. Nicole Lloyd Ronning and Dr. Andrea Albert, LANL Astrophysicists; Sophia Dagnello, Science visualizer at National Radio Astronomy- Very Large Array; and the S-STEM Center-UNM Observatory in Taos. We align with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal: Space4SDG focusing on improving life on earth from space.