GW Explorer: A Beginner's Guide

We present an outreach initiative designed to introduce high school students to Gravitational-Wave (GW) astrophysics through interactive, open-source Python Jupyter Notebooks. While extensive resources exist for advanced undergraduates and graduate students, accessible GW education materials for younger audiences remain limited. This project addresses that gap by developing an introductory curriculum that integrates core physics and mathematics concepts with hands-on coding activities. The program also supports student retention at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV) by expanding mentorship and research opportunities for local high school students, particularly within Nevada's large and underfunded Clark County School District. The notebooks–developed for cloud-based platforms such as Google Colab and designed for future integration with the Gravitational-Wave Open Science Center–cover topics including gravity, spacetime, GW sources, detection, and analyzing real data. By establishing a scalable, open-access framework, this project aims to strengthen UNLV's engagement with the Las Vegas educational community, broaden participation in STEM, and create a comprehensive GW learning resource for high school students.