![Students, teachers, and parents visit Omaha Beach in Normandy, France on June 7 as part of an EF tour group. "In 7th grade I had signed up for a [field trip to] Canada but it was canceled because COVID pushed it off so much, so when Mrs. Pietrzak brought up that they were doing a D-Day field trip to Europe, I thought that was really cool and I knew that I definitely wanted to do a trip while I was at West Shore so I took the opportunity," Amelia Bailly '25 said.](https://westshoreroar.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/08/edbc27cd-da37-43d3-9ac9-0f38a21bbe02-1200x675.jpg)
Inspired by her love of science fiction movies and novels, teacher Samantha Martin introduced an astronomy course for students interested.
“I felt like West Shore could use more science electives,” Martin said. “Before that, we just had anatomy and physiology. We had science research, too, but science research isn’t really for everyone.”
The astronomy course focuses on studying different elements of the physical universe, such as planets and stars.
“In astronomy, we overview pretty much everything [about our galaxy],” Martin said. “We don’t go into any specific topic in a lot of detail, but we cover an overview of the solar system, [how] stars are formed, and how we are able to observe the sky.”
The class is available for students in grades 10-12, allowing older students to experience more diverse science opportunities.
“I’ve always been fascinated by astronomy and learning about planets and galaxies,” sophomore Zunaira Tehzeeb said. “When I saw that we were finally getting a class about it, I had to take it.”
As most Brevard Public Schools do not have an astronomy class, Martin can take creative liberties when teaching it.
“There are standards for the astronomy class,” Martin said. “There is a curriculum, but there isn’t a district-made curriculum guide like there is for the other classes, and a lot of the standards are pretty vague. So there is some freedom to choose.”
Since Martin has just begun the course, the class is currently focused on general information and written assignments.
“So far, we’re still in the beginning stages,” Tehzeeb said. “We’re learning about astronomers and how we got to what we know about astronomy today. We learned the differences between astronomy and astrology. It has been assignment-based, but … we’re going to do labs [later in the year].”
Overall, the new course offers students a way to learn about science in a non-traditional fashion.
“It’s really nice to add this class because we didn’t have something like this before,” Tehzeeb said. “The last time I learned anything about astronomy was in middle school science, and it’s fun to have something like that again. The teacher, Ms. Martin, is so sweet, and she also teaches really well.”
