In 2011 Benjamin Blonder, then a PhD student in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology (EEB), approached Alan Strauss, then Director of the Mount Lemmon SkyCenter, with a vision for a university-run residential science program for regional schools. As their discussions continued, they were joined by Pacifica Sommers (also a PhD student in EEB at the time) who shared their desire to build a program. Pacifica was awarded a 2-year NASA Space Grant Fellowship to fund her efforts in developing the program.
In its first year the Sky School served four schools, some in partnership with the Sierra Club’s Inspiring Connections Outdoors program. Three came for single overnight programs and Flowing Wells High School for the first four-day flagship Sky School research program. The first teacher to bring her class to the Sky School was Rebecca Lipson, who joined the Sky School the following year as an assistant director. Within five years, the Sky School was delivering 15 school programs per year, with a staff of ~15 graduate students from across the University. In 2014, the Sky School was recognized by the Obama White House under their environmental stewardship Champions of Change program. As the Sky school grew to deliver more programs each year, new types of programs were offered in urban locations, schools began to come from across the country, and the instructional staff grew to approximately two dozen instructors including graduate students from both the University of Arizona and Arizona State University.
Leadership of the Sky School has changed over time. In 2021, Rebecca Lipson moved to a new position, and Rob McGehee joined the staff as assistant director. In 2023 Alan Strauss accepted an offer to join the Vera Rubin Observatory, and in 2024 David Austin became director.
Many of the best practices from the Sky School are available in an open-access book written by our staff, “Place-Based Scientific Inquiry A Practical Handbook for Teaching Outside”.