The Rise and Fall of Astronomy Club
I discovered Astronomy Club while at the club fair way back when I was in my freshman year of university. There were many clubs, but this one stuck out mainly for my enjoyment of planets and stars. They were a small but humble table surrounded by many other tables and I decided this would be the club I would join (I also joined the Filmmakers society, but I only came to two meetings, the schedule got confusing, or I forgot when the meetings were held, so I just forgot to come). Anyway, their meetings were every other Tuesday at 7PM. The meetings were held at Boyer Hall in room 117, the same room I would take pre-calculus.
The meetings were usually brief and followed a similar pattern. Walk in and sit down, listen to a PowerPoint about a particular space related topic, watch a Kurzgesagt video, participate in either a quiz or a Kahoot game to win some candy related prize (until the head of clubs said they couldn’t do that anymore for reasons) and then be given a brief notice of what astronomical events would take place (lunar eclipses, meteor showers, etc.) before leaving. It was repetitive, but it was a nice, relaxing club to be in. Despite the “slow” and “uneventful” events that would take place during the club’s usual time slot, there were some fun one of activities we got to do.
One involved taking a trip to a nearby school that had a planetarium (coincidentally, an elementary school I went to also had a planetarium before the school got torn down and remade). Another involved doing stargazing on the Harbor Green (flat grass area on school grounds). However, the most memorable experience involved visiting the observatory on the Boyer building’s roof. This observatory was not in use for many years and was not accessible to anyone except one or two people. Getting to look around the small observatory was a great experience that few at my university will ever get to experience.
However, the club was without its flaws. Along with the short meeting time, the club usually had a small group of people, and the numbers shrunk as the time I was there went. There was also some internal stuff going on with keeping the club running and thus three or four semesters after I joined, the club became defunct. There was no big announcement whatsoever. It just… ended. Went out with a whimper. I was somewhat somber to see the club go as it was a peaceful, low effort club to join when compared to the school’s other clubs (presumably). Despite the clubs’ absence, I still keep my love of astronomy with me. Always.
Written by: Terrence Finley
Photo by: Antonio Brown
