Caltech essay - Trouble

I’ve been having troubles on properly addressing the following question:

What three experiences or activities have helped you explore your desire to study and possibly pursue a career in STEM?

I would like to include the lectures I give on Astrophysics and Physics, as well as “Clube da Luneta”, an organization I founded through which I teach basic concepts of Sciences to children. I also want to mention an Astronomy summer course, books I read and online lectures, courses etc I took on such topics, but I don’t know how to fit it all into three activities. I also do not know if, because most of my activities are exclusively related to Physics and Astronomy, they are considered STEM.
I also would like to know if I should translate “Clube da Luneta”, which is in Portuguese, to English.

Are your lectures also to children? If so, could combine that with the club. Yes, I’d put in parentheses the English meaning, even tho it seems obvious. I would certainly put the class for kids on top.

Or, one could say Independent Studies, which combines reading and online courses.

If the lectures and the club are quite different,mother I would combine Formal and Self studies, as the third category.

Realize of course that you have a 200 word limit, or less than 70 words per area (about 4 short sentences/activity). You can always allocate more words to the more meaningful activities. IMO, Caltech is trying to gain insight on what peaked your interest and curiosity and keeps you engaged. So for the third activity, I’d use the summer Astronomy course, which while a defined activity, easily leads to a sentence or 2 on curiosity and further study in the field. You’ll have more opportunity/words to express your general interest and pursuit of science in the short answer and essay portion further back in the app as well as an opportunity to write about 3 books that have inspired you. I’d also skip the translation based on the word count limit.

I agree that the summer Astronomy course sounds like a good 3rd choice.

Remember the question isn’t primarily about the experiences, it’s about how they affected you.

If the application is the same as last year, they separately ask for your 3 favorite books and a short description of why for each one.

Physics and Astronomy are certainly STEM. (They are the S part.)

Google translate isn’t sure what Luneta means in English. It came up with “bezel”. Does it mean “telescope” in this context?

Thank you very much for your feedback!

Yes! “Luneta” actually means “telescope”, but I think that translating “clube da luneta” as “telescope group” sounds weird