SPARQ Foundation Board Update

The SPARQ Center at Piner High School Foundation is pleased to announce pleased to announce a leadership transition within our organization. Effective January 6, 2026, Ian Carpenter will assume the role of President, and Mindy Breslin will assume the role of Vice President.

We extend our gratitude and thanks to outgoing President, Michael Papaik, for his valuable contributions and service the past two years.

Please join us in welcoming Ian Carpenter and Mindy Breslin into their new roles.

STEM Cafe presentations on our YouTube Channel

SPARQ Center STEM Cafe presentations are available on our YouTube Channel. Check out the three videos from the start of this school year.

Students - make sure to schedule to attend one of the four remaining presentations from January to April 2026. Seats fill up fast so don’t procrastinate.

The videos are posted for you as an after-the-fact resource. Your instructors will not accept them for STEM Level 1 without the stamp you receive at the live event. Questions? Please see Mr. Kruger.

Thank You Caprice Disbrow

Thank you, Caprice Disbrow, SRJC Professor of Biology and Botany, for giving us insight into rewilding and SRJC projects to promote biodiversity in urban spaces. If you are interested in working with the SRJC team on a project please contact Caprice Disbrow.
#sparqcenter #stemcafe #stemeducation

We thank as always Piner Culinary for the delicious snacks!

You can watch the presentation on our YouTube channel.

STEM Project Profile: Living with Wildlife

STEM Project Profile: Living with Wildlife

by SPARQ Board Student Representative Riley Kobler

“Living with Wildlife is a STEM project at Piner High School that provides students with the opportunity to study the animals that inhabit the campus. With the support of the Living with Lions organization, three Barn Owl wildlife cameras were set up at the Youth Community Park, which is across the street from Piner High School. Every month, the SIM cards are collected and swapped with a blank one, ensuring that more photos can be taken. The photos are then uploaded to Google Drive, where students can catalog them, noting details such as date, time, temperature, moon phase, and which animals appear. We can then use this information to observe which species frequent the park and how often they’re spotted. Besides animals, the wildlife cameras also capture photos of people walking their dogs or playing frisbee golf. This project teaches students how to conduct research in a hands-on manner, developing skills in data interpretation and scientific communication.”

A variety of interesting nocturnal and diurnal, wild and domestic visitors. We even got an appearance by our Cross-Country team!


Thank You Kent Porter

Thank You Kent Porter

We extend a big thank you Kent Porter for his presentation at the Sept 17th STEM Cafe on photojournalism with a little storm chasing and climate change observations thrown in for good measure. Kent showed his work, shared his process and observations, and told stories from an award-winning career. Thank you to our students for their engaging and thoughtful questions

Please follow Kent on Instagram or look for his work in the Press Democrat.

We thank Piner Culinary for the delicious cookies 🍪.

You can watch the presentation on our YouTube channel.

2024-2025 Student Work

Student astrophotography and photometry work from the 2024-2025 school year. You can also see them on the SPARQ website. Link in bio.

Students utilize the SPARQ Observatory telescope to capture hundreds of photos and data which they combine into stunning images and research level data.

Astrophotography:
1. Bubble Nebulae by Kaylee
2. Crab Nebulae by Yesenia
3. M104 Sombrero Galaxy by Derek
4. M101 Pinwheel Galaxy by Kevin
5. Coma Cluster by Rafael
6. NGC5634 Globular Cluster by Rex

Photometry:
7. YZ UMi and light curve by Eli
8. FK Com and light curve by Fernanda

Piner students: If you are amazed by this work and want to try it yourself, talk to Mr. Kruger about a STEM Level project.

Thank you to the students for creating this amazing work. Thank you to Mr. Kruger. Special thanks to Steve Smith for all of his hard work guiding the students through the process.

2025 STEM Symposium

The 2025 STEM Symposium at Piner High School’s SPARQ Center featured 80 STEM Level II & III presentations. The projects covered a wide variety of topics including astrophotography, health sciences internships, community internships, water quality studies, civil engineering, rocketry, and more.

Congratulations to the 2025 Judy Barcelon Excellence in STEAM Award winners Mircya Mosqueda and Kevin Le! These students embody passion, perseverance, and excellence in the area of STEAM. They also each received $500 scholarships from the SPARQ Foundation.

Photos by Mindy Breslin.

2025 Judy Barcelon Excellence in STEAM Award winners Kevin Le and Mircya Mosqueda.

2025 STEM Symposium Highlights

That’s a wrap!

That’s a wrap for our 2024-2025 STEM Cafe and Digital Planetarium events. SPARQ Digital Theater - Oasis in Space full dome film was our last event of the season. Thank you everyone for coming! We hope you enjoyed them.

Thank you, Mr. Kruger 🚀 for all your hard work organizing the events.

Watch this space for the 2025-2026 schedule. Our first STEM Cafe is scheduled for September.

Click the photo below to go to our YouTube channel.

#sparqatphs #digitalplanetarium
#stemeducation #stem #steam
#pinerhighschool
#science #scienceiscool #sciencecommunication #sciencenews

Safari West Field Trip

On Friday April 4th 47 students and chaperones went on a field trip to Safari West. It’s such a cool place. Students learned about zoology, biology, conservation and bio-ethical concepts. We were lucky to see the baby lemur playing.

To see a short video of the day go to our YouTube Channel.

We wish to give a huge thank you to the Active 20-30 Club of Santa Rosa. The transportation was funded by a generous grant from their organization.

Photos by Mindy Breslin

collage

Safari West Highlights

SSU Field Trip

On Friday March 14, 39 Piner students went on a field trip to Sonoma State University. They got to tour the campus, visit the Nursing Lab, tour the Maker Space, and enjoy lunch in The Kitchens.

We wish to give a huge thank you to the Active 20-30 Club of Santa Rosa. The transportation was funded by a generous grant from their organization.