Sky & Telescope - February 2022 - 28

THE FRANKLIN INSTITUTE
Astro Outreach
Nicetown section of North Philadelphia, two blocks and two
decades removed from comedian Kevin Hart. Pitts remembers
being the " weird science kid " at Gillespie Junior High School,
where he performed demonstrations for the other students
and earned a key to the school's science closet - something
normally reserved for staff. At Gillespie Junior High, dedicated
teacher Beth Showell first impressed upon Pitts that
science was a formidable subject worthy of serious study.
" She was unabashedly in love with and excited about science, "
Pitts recalls. " She never masked her enthusiasm for it
at all and certainly challenged students to be interested in
science and to excel at science. It was the first time I had run
into somebody who was dedicated and committed [to science]
- no embarrassment, no apology. "
Pitts graduated from Philly's prestigious Germantown
Academy, then earned a degree from St. Lawrence University
in 1978 and began working at the Franklin Institute
that same year. He presides over a 10-inch Zeiss refractor on
the building's rooftop, where he once advised a high-school
student from the northeastern suburbs who was studying
sunspots and solar flares for a science fair project. That student
was me. Reconnecting with Pitts recently, I was struck
by his passion and drive for science education - he's the same
person he was when he helped me decades ago. Although he
could write his own ticket to any observatory in the world, he
continues to work at the Franklin Institute.
" I love what I do, I love where I work, " Pitts told me. But
in a reflective moment, he confided that even today he yearns
for another chance. Had the role models been there for
him, he would have pursued a career as a high-performance
A GENTLE GUIDE Astronomy educator Derrick Pitts meets students
of all ages wherever they are to help them appreciate and understand
the wonders of the night sky.
aircraft military pilot and an astronaut. " But I grew up in an
inner-city neighborhood where I knew no one who had that
kind of occupation, " he says.
Bright Lights, Brighter Stars
Pitts had already flexed his skills as a storyteller at star parties
and planetarium shows, but it was his knack for creating
connections that led to the concept behind City Skies. It's a
partnership between amateur astronomers, community centers,
and informal science institutions, known as ISIs - educational
institutions that support lifelong learning in STEM
(science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) topics
outside formal classroom settings. Supported by the educational
resources of the Franklin Institute, City Skies' goal is
to bring science to the widest possible audience. The project
evolved as an outgrowth of Pitts's interest in creating innovative
science-education opportunities to inspire students to see
the possibilities arising from an understanding of the night
sky. " City Skies is a force multiplier, " Pitts says simply.
The program attracted a $799,000 grant from NASA in
2014, which funded training, educational materials, and
even small, affordable telescopes for community centers in
the Philadelphia region. In all, during a period of four years,
City Skies sponsored 25 workshops, reached 46 community
centers, and trained 152 workshop facilitators and 17 middleschool
teachers, while receiving consistently outstanding
ratings from participants. Star parties were held all over the
city, often in conjunction with other events such as Philadelphia's
annual Science Festival (also sponsored by the Franklin
Institute).
In December 2020, the Franklin Institute qualified for a
new NASA grant called TEAM II (Teams Engaging Affiliated
Museums and Informal Institutions). With this funding,
Pitts and the Franklin Institute are bringing the City Skies
model to the national level. The expanded program is called
Mission to Mars - a nod to NASA's current efforts to plan
for human space travel to the Red Planet. The initiative trains
ISIs to replicate the City Skies concept of outreach and educational
programs to link amateur astronomers and community
centers in under-resourced communities.
In late 2021, the Franklin Institute announced the first
five ISIs to receive training over the next year: the Arizona
Science Center (Phoenix, Arizona); the Sci-Port Discovery
Center (Shreveport, Louisiana); spectrUM Discovery Area
(Missoula, Montana); Las Cruces Museum of Nature and Science
(Las Cruces, New Mexico); and the Green Bank Observatory
(Green Bank, West Virginia). Pitts notes that every
member of this initial cohort is located in a rural or otherwise
underserved location.
Mission to Mars will prepare each of these institutions to
train ISIs of their own choosing in subsequent years. According
to a December 2020 NASA press release, the dozens of
national and community partnerships created through this
program " will equip informal science institutions, community-based
organizations, and amateur astronomers with the
28 FEBRUARY 2022 * SKY & TELESCOPE
Sky & Telescope - February 2022

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