Lucious Mann
LUCIOUS Mann has spent his life looking up.
Growing up he always wanted to be an astronaut and would pester his parents for books about space.
Now the 17yearold astronomer and budding astrophysicist spends his time working with other local enthusiasts to help plot the stars.
Lucious has been interested in space for as long as he can remember and over time his passion has only grown.
His birthday present this year was a university astronomy textbook and he has already gone from cover to cover.
A lot of people believe the current generation was born too late to explore the Earth and too early to explore the stars, but Lucious disagrees.
He thinks they are in a position to be pioneers and map the stars like never before, which is nearly as exciting. ‘‘There’s so much we don’t know.’’
As the winner of a Students With a Passion for Astronomy scholarship, he was selected to speak at the annual Royal Astronomical Society meeting, where he expressed to the audience why he loved astronomy so much.
‘‘My whole life I have been looking up to the stars.’’
He works alongside local community groups, as data from a group of telescopes was far more useful than just one.
Growing up he always wanted to be an astronaut, but now he hopes to one day achieve a PhD in astrophysics.
When he shifts his focus to the ground, Lucious acts as a standing member of the Clutha District Youth Council.
When he first joined he did not know much about what they did, but a lot of important work went on behind the scenes.
Some of the projects he had worked on were the annual youth week and antimethamphetamine fundraisers.
He acted in a variety of leadership roles at school, such as secretary for the ball planning committee and as a leader for juniors interested in online games.
He believed that as he was spending time at school anyway he may as well contribute.
One thing he was particularly proud of was the school’s Rainbow Soup group, which he cofounded to help support queer pupils.
When he started at school he struggled to find support and was proud to have set up a network for others.