Jason Riley this week peered through an eyepiece and gazed up close at the moon for the first time in his life.

The experience was surreal, he said — in part because he stood on the White House's South Lawn as he examined the heavens through a telescope.

“It was awe-inspiring,” said Riley, 35, executive director of Aspinwall-based Tickets for Kids Charities.

“We're not talking about the kind of telescopes that you buy at the toy store. Those were some serious, serious telescopes.”

Riley on Monday took part in the second White House Astronomy Night, an event hosted by President Obama to help foster student interest in STEM subjects, meaning science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

The first such night was held in 2009.

“We need to inspire more young people to ask about the stars,” Obama said during the event. “We have to watch for and cultivate and encourage those glimmers of curiosity and possibility — not suppress them, not squelch them.”

Included in the crowd were students, astronauts, scientists and people like Riley — representatives of organizations connecting children and teens to STEM opportunities.

Tickets for Kids Charities has partnered with the Bayer USA Foundation as part of the new “Making Science Make Sense” program. Foundation officials also attended the event.

Bayer's support will help provide up to 25,000 STEM experiences for children through Tickets for Kids.

Riley said his only regret was that he was not able to take children from Western Pennsylvania or elsewhere with him, but the experience encouraged him to continue fulfilling the organization's mission.

“I was just excited to get back to the office and get to work,” he said.

Riley became head of Tickets for Kids in July. Since the charity started in 1994, it has distributed nearly 2 million tickets valued at more than $40 million to enable children and their families to attend museums, zoos and science centers, cultural and sporting events, and more.

The charity works with about 900 organizations across the region and more than 3,000 nationwide, Riley said.

“We want to inspire (children) to dream beyond their current constraints and to realize their full potential,” Riley said.

“The opportunities available to children too often are restricted to the ZIP code they are born into. We are trying to break down borders that keep kids from being included in our society.”

Jason Cato is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7936 or jcato@tribweb.com.

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