Wareham High School’s starry-eyed students will be able to sign up for a new astronomy club this year.

High School science teacher Alfonso Navarro won approval from the Wareham School Committee last Wednesday to begin the club. Navarro, who has been at the High School for three years, said he got the idea after a student expressed interest in an astronomy course last year. He said quite a few students seemed interested after he proposed the idea, despite his view that math and science clubs usually “get a bad rap.”

“When I was an engineer, I worked with the New Hampshire Astronomical Society, and we put on what they call ‘sky watches’ at schools and libraries,” Navarro said. “That was a big part of what got me into teaching, as well as all the kids and parents who would come out.”

Navarro said he is excited about this “natural fall” into creating an astronomy club, because he can introduce students to the various heavenly bodies fairly easily.

“If it is a clear night, you can look up and there are all sort of things you can see,” Navarro said. “Besides going out, there is … a lot of free information about space missions and the like online.”

The club itself will be free to join, and Navarro said he would be running it as cheaply as possible. Because he owns three telescopes the students may use, Navarro said the only funding he would need would be for field trips, which he believes he could get from grants.

“There are actually some observatories in the area,” Navarro said. “There is an observatory at the Dennis-Yarmouth High School … and the BMC Durfee High School.”

Navarro said he thinks the club will be a good opportunity for students, who are easily distracted by technology and glowing screens.

“We don’t really spend that much time looking up at the sky,” Navarro said. “As a society, we're almost afraid of being out in the dark.”