The Hesje Observatory at the Augustana Miquelon Lake Research Station recently opened for drop-in hours for the first time since the observatory opened in 2021. Funded by the late U of A and Augustana grad Brian Hesje, the facility is the only university observatory in a dark sky preserve in Western Canada.
Have you met Rae Metrunec, telescope technician for the Hesje Observatory? She has been working with the observatory since she was a student and was also instrumental in getting it up and running. Spend a few minutes getting to know her better.
What is your first U of A memory?
Watching Vikings Volleyball at Augustana Campus when I was still in high school. My older sister played on the team so my family would often go watch, and there was always so much amazing supportive energy in the gym. It makes sense that I followed her footsteps to the university and to the team.
What’s something your coworkers don’t know about you?
I love to indulge in all different forms of creativity, including music (drums, flute, and harmonica are my current instruments of choice, and I like to sing), visual arts like painting, sketching, drawing, dancing (I Ukrainian danced my whole life before coming to university) and most recently I’ve gotten into making jewelry and clothes.
What’s your favourite distraction?
Any form of outdoor activity is always the best distraction for me. Being on wheels is my favorite, like longboarding, rollerblading or biking, but a nice nature walk is always appreciated too. In the wintertime I still like getting outside as a distraction, usually choosing to either go cross country skiing or snowshoeing.
If you were enrolling in one course, program or degree right now, what would it be?
I’d love to take a singing course! Of course I think that I sound great when I sing, but it would be nice to hear more from someone who is actually trained.
What’s a weird pet peeve you have?
When people try to compartmentalize things that cannot be. The universe is chaotic… stop trying to make “order” happen… it’s never going to happen.
You can invite anyone — alive or dead, real or fictional — to dinner. Who would it be?
I’d like to invite any alien to dinner, as long as they were nice. Imagine the stories you might hear!
If you could see any live performance tomorrow, what would it be?
Panic! at the Disco.
What advice would you give your 18-year-old self?
Know your worth, and know that others opinions on it are insignificant.
What’s one thing you can’t live without?
The sun and moon. We would literally not exist without them. And I think I would go crazy if I was no longer able to see sunsets and sunrises, or bask in the beauty of the moon from time to time.
What three words describe your U of A experience?
Discovery, liberty, community.
About Rae
Rae is the telescope technician at the Hesje Observatory, a recent addition to the Augustana Miquelon Lake Research Station. She graduated from U of A, Augustana in 2020 with a Bachelor of Science in Math and Physics, and was a member of the Vikings women's volleyball team while she was a student there, transitioning into a coaching role with the team after graduation. Recently she was part of the CCAA Female Apprenticeship Coach Program (FACP).