By Khalida Sarwari
Nearly three years after securing funding for a proposed new planetarium, West Valley College is finally starting construction on a new state-of-the-art facility that promises to offer students and local residents an immersive environment for learning astronomy.
On Dec. 18, the college will break ground on the Jean and E. Floyd Kvamme Planetarium, named after the Saratoga couple who donated $3.9 million to the college to modernize its aging planetarium.
The design for the new facility calls for a 41-foot dome with hybrid-optical and mechanical digital planetarium projection systems, a small exhibit area and theater seating. Construction is scheduled to start in a few months along the Allendale Avenue side of the science and math buildings and is expected to be completed in late 2017.
The college’s current planetarium is more than 40 years old. The new planetarium will serve as a multidisciplinary resource not just for science students but those studying the arts and other fields as well as being a tool for the community at large, which wasn’t possible with the current facility.
The planetarium will be primarily funded from the Kvamme Foundation’s donation, which marks the largest gift the college has received in its 50-year history. The Kvammes are 40-year residents of Saratoga and friends of West Valley College’s planetarium director Benjamin Mendelsohn. The couple shares a love of astronomy and education.
“We will be forever grateful to the Kvammes for this gift and the strong message it sends about the critical role the college plays in educating and inspiring future generations,” said West Valley College president Brad Davis.
A portion of their donation will go toward the establishment of an endowment to develop ongoing programming and exhibits.
The college will host a groundbreaking ceremony on Dec. 18 to mark the start of construction. The program begins at 10:30 a.m.
