Information for Educators:

For more information or to schedule a visit, contact Mary Beth Laychak, CFHT's Director of Strategic Communications via email or phone 885-3121.

Waimea Summit Tours
CFHT wecomes small student groups to visits our Waimea headquarters for a tour. Tours are gennerally accompanied by a science talk or activity based on the group's interestes. The Waimea Nature Park, located behind CFHT, makes an ideal spot for post visit lunches.

Classroom Visits
For larger groups or those unable to visit our headquarters, CFHT can arrange for a staff member to visit your classroom. We can schedule a single classroom visit or a visit to multiple classrooms. A standard visit runs an hour long, but the time is flexible based on the teacher’s needs. Teachers can choose from our listed talks/activities (elementary or middle/highschool)

Planetarium Shows
The most recent addition to CFHT’s outreach program is a portable StarLab planetarium. The planetarium seats ~25 students and can be set up in a school gym, library or conference room. Planetarium curriculum options include constellation identification, Polynesian Voyaging, and the ancient skies of Egypt, China and the Mayans.

Summit Tours
Because of the potential health risks from traveling to the summit, CFHT summit tours are limited to students 16 and over. Requests are reviewed on a case-by-case basis by CFHT staff and due to the extensive time and effort in conducting a summit tour for students the dates available are very limited.

Careers
Work at an observatory obviously requires astronomers; they make up ~25% of CFHT's total staff. CFHT has a vibrant staff working in diverse fields like software, instrumentation, operations, administration, and of course, astronomy. CFHT has a career informational packet available for download. CFHT staff is also available to visit schools for career days.