Clarke, Sean / SETL

What Is The SETL Class?

Starting in August of 2017, SETL is a hybrid of a business course, a science class, and an engineering curriculum. Students must first found a fictitious “company” to carry out a mission to another planet in search of life, akin to such renowned enterprises as Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which have been driving space exploration forward for the past several years. The company is divided into four teams, Alpha through Delta, who handle various aspects of the business, from monetary and legal matters to media interactions--this article was written by members of team Delta, the media team. By filling a role on the business teams, students gain valuable skills that can potentially be used in a high-paying and prestigious employment in the future.

Are we alone? That short, simple question has stuck in the collective mind of humanity since the first human gazed up at the stars at night. For decades, we have sent probes and even people beyond Earth to explore, and perhaps one day answer the great question. At Freedom High School, a class has been created by teacher Sean Clarke that aims to assist in finding others who may dwell on other worlds: the Search for Extraterrestrial Life class, or SETL.

The second aspect is planning the mission, which begins with the selection of a target. Planetary scientists believe that many worlds in our solar system may harbor life, complex or unicellular, and such worlds range from the well-known, for example Mars, to the more obscure, including Saturn’s moons Enceladus and Titan, or Jupiter's moons Ganymede and Europa, among many others. To more efficiently carry out mission tasks, students are divided into teams (independent of business teams) mirroring real mission control setups used by NASA, with groups handling propulsion, science instrumentation, interplanetary communications, and more. Mission planning not only expands the students’ horizons in science, but also improves their ability to plan complex long-term endeavors--a key skill in the working world.