At the start of every school year, students apply to join the Planetarium Club. This year, 85 students applied and 68 have been accepted for training. Training occurs throughout September and most of the trainees will continue on to be regular student assistants. They have to pass tests on the cash register, DigitalSky usage, telescopes, and several operations within the planetarium. They are the students who help out at public shows working the register in the gift shop, ushering, or setting up and aiming the telescopes. They have a wide range of responsibilities as well as certain advantages of being a planetarium assistant. There are 18 returning assistants from the high school, 10 former 7th graders returning as 8th graders with 13 new 8th graders, and 27 all new 7th graders.