Lowell High School

Located in San Francisco, Lowell High School is the oldest public high school west of the Mississippi river and has a student body of over 2800 students. With over 250 student-founded and student-led clubs, students of all backgrounds take part in its thriving community and bond over common interests and aspirations.

Lowell and DESI High

In the fall of 2020, led by Emma Yu, Lowell High’s Student Ambassador at DESI High, Lowell’s Astronomy Club, Dev Club, EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) Club, and Girls Who Code Club all took part in a collaboration to introduce the DESI High project to their peers. Here are some of the workshops and events they organized:

  • Dev Club designed a Python and GitHub Basics Workshop to get started.
  • All four clubs hosted a joint meeting with over 70 students in attendance, introducing them to DESI High and some basic Python and GitHub skills to help them get started on 9/3/2020.
  • Dr. Wilson gave three sessions of talks about DESI High (9/4, 9/11, 9/15 2020), exploring a few of the notebooks and answering questions from students.
  • Astronomy Club led another joint meeting going into depth about spectroscopy and the science behind DESI on 10/8/2020.

Emma Yu, Student Ambassador at DESI High


Having grown up watching Star Wars and reading The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, nine-year-old Emma Yu would constantly be kept awake at night by the terrifying notion that she understood hardly anything about the universe. After all, why couldn’t she lift the remote off of the coffee table with her mind? Did the sky go on forever? Her high school physics class (apart from ruining her favorite cartoons and action movies) provided answers to a few of her questions, but many still remained unanswered.

During LBNL’s Physics ‘In and Through Cosmology Workshop’ in the summer of 2020, she met some of the very scientists dedicating their lives to answering those questions, including those working on DESI. When she found out about DESI High, she couldn’t wait to share it with her peers. Its connections to current ongoing research about dark energy brought her closer than ever to finding answers to her questions. To this day, she still lies awake at night thinking about the many unsolved mysteries of the universe!

Kathleen West, Staff Ambassador at DESI High

“The opportunity DESI high provides all science students to work with real-world data, alongside scientists in the field,  is a dream come true for me. DESI High is a unique chance for ALL students to access the world of academic research and collaborative science at work. I am thrilled that our students have a chance to put their learning to the test, while also being given scaffolds to increase their skills in science and coding. The level of interest and engagement DESI has generated has been wonderful to see.”



Astronomy Club

Lowell’s Astronomy Club was founded in the fall of 2019 by Emma Yu, Stefanie Garcia, and Bernice Lau with the goal of connecting their peers to exciting new opportunities to explore astrophysics and cosmology. Astronomy Club encourages students to collaborate and expand their curiosities by giving talks, hosting guest speakers, participating in rocket and experimental design competitions, and hosting star parties and solar viewings.

Dev Club

Founded by Rafael Cenzano and Cappillen Lee, Lowell Dev Club is a place where anyone can be engaged in the world of computer science. They are focused on teaching high school students how to code using workshops, mentoring, and creating a focused space for students to explore computer science and work on cool projects! You can find out more about their club at www.lowelldev.club, and learn about their parent organization at www.hackclub.com.



EECS (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science) Club

Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (EECS) Club specializes in combining the physical world with code, which integrates the fields of both computer science and computer engineering. They teach members how to solder, make colorful animated RGB displays, animated LED cubes, robots, and many other things useful for studying electrical engineering and computer science in the future.

Girls Who Code Club

Girls Who Code is a place for girls who are interested in computer science to come together to learn more about computer programming and other aspects of computer science. At meetings they run coding workshops, work on projects together, and occasionally host speakers who discuss their computer science careers.

Have questions for us?

Feel free to email us at lowellastroclub@gmail.com!