Here's a virtual volunteer opportunity to help increase the reach of astronomy and astrophysics to a wider audience of high-school students, especially underresourced and / or underrepresented students!
If you're currently a US high-school student (or a US citizen / permanent resident completing high school abroad), consider participating in the competition next year!
The USA Astronomy and Astrophysics Olympiad is an organization that administers a competition to US high-school students, as well as US citizens and permanent residents abroad, to choose students to represent the US at the International Olympiad of Astronomy and Astrophysics.
We are currently looking for volunteers to be publicity officers. Because of our small volunteer group (unlike the AAPT-run Physics Olympiad or the ACS-run Chemistry Olympiad), and the niche nature of astrophysics, we have had to prioritize reaching out to high schools from which we would expect a high response rate. Often, this tends to be the few high schools who offer astronomy classes or expensive astronomy programs.
Especially with recent events and reflection after #shutdownSTEM, we recognize the need to reach beyond a limited sphere and move towards fulfilling our vision of using this competition to encourage students to learn about, be exposed to, and explore astronomy and astrophysics more. However, to accomplish this we need more people to help us out.
You would help aggregate contact information for high schools across the nation, and, if interested, help manage the social media platforms of the organization, as well as other strategies you are welcome to propose. The expected time commitment is 3-5 hrs / week. If you can follow directions, meet deadlines, and are 13+ years old, you can volunteer!
To learn more, visit this link. If interested, fill out this form.
And if you have any questions, please email [email protected]!
