In Spring
2010, Hartnell student, Victor Zarate, entered his artwork titled “2018 Moon
Base” in the NASA sponsored Life and Work on the Moon Art Contest as part of
his semester long project in the Introduction to Astronomy lecture course. Over the summer, Zarate was informed that he
earned 2nd Place in the 3-dimensional artwork category for the
college and university division. There
were more than 200 entries from colleges and high schools around the
world. Entries were received from countries
including Bermuda, China, Columbia, Czech Republic, Georgia, India, Italy,
Pakistan, Poland, Slovakia, Thailand, United Kingdom and Venezuela. Zarate received a plaque and certificate as
part of his award, and his entry will be displayed in an online gallery on
NASA’s website.
Zarate has
had a love of Astronomy ever since he was a child and has been participating in
Astronomy related activities throughout high school and college. In 2008, Zarate participated in the NSF grant
funded Summer Undergraduate Math and Science (SUMS) Program at Hartnell
College. In this intensive program, a
selected cohort of high school students spent five weeks (8 hours per day)
learning about key topics in Math and Science.
In addition, Zarate participated in an internship administered by
Hartnell’s STEM Internship Program at the Fremont Peak Observatory where he
assisted with the observatory’s Public Nights program. In 2009, Zarate continued his involvement in
Astronomy by participating in another Hartnell STEM summer internship at the
Monterey Institute for Research in Astronomy (MIRA). He worked with Drs. Whitney Shane and Arthur
Babcock on a project involving monitoring gravitational lens systems.
For more
information about the NASA competition and to view the 2010 winners, please
refer to the website:
http://www.nasa.gov/centers/langley/education/LWM-contest.html.
For more
information about the Hartnell STEM Internship Program, please refer to the
website: