Lark Bradsby awarded 2024 SPS Outstanding Service Award

About the Recipient

In Lark’s second quarter at the University of Denver (DU), she tried out SPS and started the physics major. She has never missed a meeting or event, and within the SPS group, Lark has a reputation for being: 1.) Phenomenally organized and responsible, and 2.) Extraordinarily kind. When others are teasing or being sarcastic, she always returns with statements of care and appreciation. She has played an essential role in making the group very welcoming to all genders, ethnic identities, and majors (even some engineers come to our SPS group!)

At the end of Lark’s second year in SPS, she was voted vice president, “demo guru”, and outreach chair. These are the positions in our group that took the most work and commitment, and it is no coincidence that Lark agreed to take them on. And she went far above the expectations for each role: as vice president, she prepared the activities for each meeting (usually the president does this); as demo guru, she prepared the materials for numerous new hands-on activities such as “Build-your-own kaleidoscope”; and as outreach chair, she actively sought new outreach opportunities and led our SPS group to >15 outreach events at local star parties or schools – a big step up that approached or even passed our pre-COVID outreach numbers. It surprised no one that she was unanimously elected president at the start of the 2024-205 academic year.