The HOO program kits they give us to use are so convenient. We don’t have to spend any money and get everything we need. We did the first two modules in a lock in. The kids stayed Friday night from 6:00 pm until Saturday at 8:00 am. One of the kids had an idea that he wanted to be an optical engineer. With this workshop he decided that was definitively what he wanted to do. It’s great to be able to reach somebody.

With module three I wanted to reach the parents and their families so I decided I should have a family optics night. The kids came with their families. We had high school kids mingled with elementary school kids, and fortunately I had an astronomer who came and helped me. He was able to bring his celestial telescope. So not only were we able to do module three, we were able to expand it and look at some of the planets. We had about 31 people that night. We started at 6:00 pm and stayed until almost 9:00 pm and learned how to put a telescope together with the kit they gave us. We also did a kaleidoscope.

There was interaction between parents and kids, which is so important. A lot of the parents don’t talk with the kids. There was a moment for them to talk about a subject they were learning together.

We also did module two with the mirrors. The kids were amazed how one penny could be made to look like 1,000 pennies. I was so excited myself about how to arrange the mirrors. You could produce 1,000 pennies just by knowing how to set the angles of the mirrors that they bounce off one another.

The three workshops were so valuable for us teachers. The training was very good. One thing neat about the program was that we able to do the project ourselves. I didn’t really have to do much except go to the workshop to know how to tell the kids to do it. The kids picked it up so fast, and they were teaching each other. So then you had peer tutoring. From the teacher to a student to their peers, then their parents—such a nice dimension all around. They were all impressed that they learned something new.

This is a gold mine here. I don’t have anything like it.  They give you everything you need to make that workshop really work well. It’s a wonderful outreach. I know they spent a lot of money putting those kits together, but I felt I really benefited a lot from it. Our time is so limited as a teacher, and we don’t have the resources to go to a workshop and bring home something that you could do with your kids. I’ve had the club in my school for the last three years. In it I have different levels of high school kids.  I’ve been very successful with my club. We’ve gone to regionals, states, and this is the third year we’ve gone to nationals.

We have to keep with the rest of the whole world. Today kids want instant success. A teacher can only do so much in the school. To be able to do something extra for the kids that’s provided to use free is so important. The workshops are so user friendly. That’s crucial. If you make it too technical. You make to make it meet the needs of all different types of teachers—elementary, middle school, and high school.

We have 90 percent minorities here. We don’t have a lot of resources. I love hands on. The kids get really excited. They get their hands it in. They can feel it; they can touch it. Then they even tell me: “No one ever told us we could do this stuff.” I tell them don’t every let anyone tell you you don’t amount to anything. You can do what ever you want with your life. For the last three years I’ve seen a lot of seniors go to the university.

Lolly Levine works with high school kids in her MESA Club in Arizona and also teaches high school. Seventy-five percent of her students are minorities. Her goal is to get as many as possible to go to college.