We here at Astronomy are all about outreach. Not only is it fun to share the skies with someone who’s never really noticed them before, but it’s also a good idea to make sure people will still want to observe the heavens after we’re gone.

Timothy E. Kent agrees. He’s a Starlab Resource Teacher for the Baltimore County Public Schools, so he gets to show elementary school kids the night skies as part of his day job via portable planetariums. More than 135,000 students have already explored the universe as part of the program. But that wasn’t enough for Kent.

He and his colleague Susie Riffe came up with a program to help ensure that the kids can build on that initial glimpse of the skies. The “Junior Astronomers Awards Program” encourages fourth- and fifth-grade students to go outside, observe the skies, and sketch what they see. They can win an award badge in each of three categories — Constellation, the Moon, and Deep Space — if they submit the drawing to their teacher.

The kids can move at their own pace, with beginners searching out constellations using just their naked eyes while more advanced students can use star charts to locate deep-sky objects. And in addition to winning the badge, the drawings also go up on the Baltimore County Public School’s Starlab website.

The 2011–2012 school year (the program’s first) saw more than 150 student sketches of the night sky, proving that the excitement level about space and the heavens is there within kids, just waiting to be catered to. Kent wanted to share the success of his program, but mainly he hoped to spread the idea to other groups, which could easily adapt the program and make it their own. He’s happy to take questions and give advice at tkent@bcps.org.

Thanks for the idea, Timothy, and good luck this year!