By VERNON ROBISON
The Progress
Leaders of local workforce development group, Mesquite Works, have long claimed that ‘The Sky is the Limit’ on a new community learning center they are developing at the Mesquite Plaza shopping center. But this may soon be actually true – at least as it pertains to the night sky.
On Saturday, Dec. 18, members of the Mesquite Works board sat down with team members of the Great Basin National Park Foundation to discuss how live, streaming images of some of the nation’s darkest night skies could be transmitted directly to the soon-to-open learning center for the education of local kids.
The vision for the local center has come a long way since September of this year, when officials of the Charles and Phyllis M. Frias Charitable Trust announced that they were donating the Mesquite Plaza buildings over to the Mesquite Works organization. The gift, valued at more than $2 million, is intended for the establishment of a community-based center for Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts/Agriculture and Math (STEAM) education.
The group toured three spacious classroom spaces, located on the west side of the shopping center. These are currently in the final stages of extensive renovation to become the beginnings of the STEAM center.
Mesquite Works Board President George Gault explained that the center was being equipped with a fiber optic connection to the internet. There will also be a huge 80-inch TV installed in one of the large classrooms to be used for instruction, Gault said.
“We think that would be ideal to view a live internet link between the Great Basin Observatory telescope and our center,” Gault said.
Night sky images would be captured by a huge 27.5-inch reflecting telescope located at the Great Basin Observatory located more than 200 miles north of Mesquite, high in the mountains in Great Basin National Park. It is said to be one of the most remote areas in the contiguous United States with some of the darkest skies.
Because of it’s wilderness location, the observatory is designed to be operated entirely by remote control. Students and researchers can operate the telescope with web-based controls from anywhere in the world as long as they have an internet connection.
Gault said that such an experience would be invaluable as part of the local STEAM center. “In addition to instructional experiences for kids, we also envision involving the whole community by having family nights watching the stars over Great Basin,” Gault said. “What an amazing opportunity.”
A group of four Great Basin National Park Foundation Team members were in attendance at the meeting and asked to give feedback and suggestions on the new STEAM center and how the link between it and the Observatory could best be accomplished. They included Dr. John Kenney, Chair of the Great Basin Observatory Operations Committee; Dr. Bridget Eastep, Executive Director of Outdoor Pathways program at Southern Utah University; Dr. Kenji Hakuta, a professor emeritus at Stanford University; and Steven Brown, an emeritus member of the Great Basin National Park Foundation.
Dr. Kenney suggested that, in addition to the virtual connection to the observatory, that the center consider acquiring a 17-inch telescope for use somewhere in the local area or its darker-sky surroundings.
“Of course, we are excited to work on linking to the observatory,” Kenney said. “But there is really no substitute for the real experience; the look and feel of viewing through a real telescope.”
John Mowbray, who is a co-trustee of the Frias Trust organization, agreed with this. Mowbray is an avid astronomy enthusiast who has guided many youngsters to an early appreciation of stargazing.
“I’ve seen it many times when a child looks for the first time through the eyepiece of a telescope and sees something spectacular,” Mowbray said. “It is a real ‘gotcha’ moment for the kid.”
Of course, the local STEAM center will involve much more learning opportunities than just looking at the night skies.
Virgin Valley High School Principal Riley Frei said that the idea for the center had its origins in conversations that he had with late community education advocate, Jim Wilson.
“We talked about doing something here that our school district just can’t do,” Frei said. “If we could peel off all the bureaucracy, what could we do that would be bigger and better than anywhere else out there?
This is the question we asked. We were not looking to replicate anything that others are doing, but take a step further and meet new demand. It was not meant to supplement anything else, but to supplant it.”
Gault added that the STEAM center is envisioned as a training ground to prepare local high school students for careers of the future including advanced manufacturing, robotics, drones, computer coding and other emerging fields.
But it would also act as a discovery center and maker space for younger kids from are elementary and middle schools.
The scope of the center will include, not only Mesquite, but Bunkerville, Moapa Valley and the communities of the Arizona Strip.
