Years ago, University Prep acquired three telescopes — several thousand dollars in all — to expand students’ understanding of the universe. And then, they were forgotten.

Until recently, UPrep’s state-of-the-art telescopes sat for over a decade in off-site storage. Now, students have a new way to experience the night sky.

According to Middle School parent and astronomy enthusiast Glenn Hampson, facilities manager Martin Pawlina located the telescopes.

“[Pawlina] discovered that UPrep had not one, but three telescopes,” Hampson said in an email. “And not junky ones, but top-of-the-line. There’s even a permanent concrete pier poured in the back parking lot designed specifically to hold these scopes.”

Facilities personnel first moved the telescopes to off-site storage after science teacher Moses Rifkin did not use them during his first year at UPrep.

“Back when I first joined UPrep in 2005, I think the previous astronomy teacher was really into observational astronomy,” Rifkin said. “That wasn’t something that I knew a lot about, so we didn’t use [the telescopes] that year. They got moved out of the classroom and into storage.”

In retrospect, Rifkin regrets not making the telescopes accessible to students earlier.

“I was really astounded by the degree to which people wanted to use them. I’m kicking our collective selves for not bringing them out earlier,” he said.

Hampson initiated the inquiry to find the devices after arguing the merits of the gift of a telescope to students and the greater UPrep community. 

“There’s no bigger thrill for me than helping someone see the sky for the first time through a big telescope — seeing the moon’s craters and mountains up close,” Hampson said.

According to Hampson, the three telescopes, which he believes are about 15 years old, have functioning optics but lack “motors and electronic guidance systems” to properly find astronomic structures.

“They were missing parts here and there, no doubt the result of moving from one location and event to another over the years,” Hampson said.

On March 1, Hampson and Middle School science teacher Brent Slattengren arranged an event so students could use the rediscovered telescopes.

Junior Lucy Day attended the gathering and enjoyed learning from Slattengren about the visible cosmos. 

“I’m not crazy interested in astronomy, but I think the stars are so pretty and I like learning about the stories behind them,” she said.

Given the condition of the found telescopes, Hampson created a new proposal to foster student interest in astronomy at UPrep.

“Our plan is that I will sell most or all of the existing UPrep scopes and reinvest in new, more portable scopes with new motors and electronics,” he said.

Hampson hoped that students grow to develop a similar appreciation to astronomy to his own.

“We look up all the time and rarely pause to reflect on what a small part we are in the universe,” Hampson said.