John Glenn High School is thanking the donors who are helping kids experience the stars. It hosted a grand re-opening of its planetarium.
It had been broken down and closed for a decade - until one man took action.
Steve Koponen, a 1989 graduate of John Glenn High School in Westland remembered learning about the universe in the school’s planetarium. He asked if he could revisit it while together with friends for a reunion.
He then learned it was closed because the district didn’t have the funding to replace antiquated parts. He could have walked away disappointed. Instead he walked away aiming for the stars.
He started a gofundme account and raised with the community’s help more than $60,000.
“I can’t even begin to describe it,” said Glenda Willman, an astronomy teacher of the first time she experienced the new planetarium. “I was like wow.”
“It is completely interactive,” said another John Glenn Astronomy teacher, David Christiansen. “We tell it to do something and it does it. It is just like a computer at home, only we have an entire dome.”
The technology allows more than just astronomy lessons. It comes with IMAX like movies that teach a variety of subjects on the dome.
“Now we have the opportunity to take the technology even further, so when we say our kids will be able to reach the stars. they will really do that,” said Michelle Harmala, Superintendent of Wayne-Westland Community Schools.
