On October 19, the Columbia Memorial Space Center held Spooky Science Night in partnership with Downey High School engineering. The event is the most recent in the space center’s long-running Halloween celebrations and the first one done with Downey High School Engineering. 

The event is a result of the long-running relationship between the school’s engineering program and the space center. Senior Andrew Courtney tells the story of how two prominent members of the engineering program helped make their involvement in spooky science night possible. 

“Two of our [engineering] team captains do a lot of volunteering here,” Courtney said, “ and they thought ‘why don’t we use this to bring our engineering to the rest of the community’”  

Locals showed up in droves to support the space center’s Halloween celebration. The Columbia Memorial Center was filled to the brim with costumed inquisitive young children and their parents. Among these attendees was Downey High School librarian Mrs. Ortiz who enjoyed the new focus on family events the city has taken. 

“I like spooky science night, they [the city] are doing a lot more family events and I like it since I have two kids,” Ortiz said. “It is a nice environment to have fun and incorporate science into it.”  

With the many science-themed activities present throughout the night, it is easy to see how the Columbia Space center wishes to impart a longing for knowledge to the children in attendance. In fact, event employees, such as Thomas Brumm, consider cultivating a newfound interest in science in young minds the whole point of Spooky Science Night. 

“The goal of this is to introduce science concepts in a fun atmosphere, so they don’t feel like they’re in a classroom being lectured,” Brumm said. “They are at an event and having fun, not even realizing that they are learning.” 

Information on Columbia Space Center and the events it hosts can be found below. 

https://www.columbiaspacescience.org/