ALLENTOWN, Pa. (WLVT) - For nearly 10 years, the planetarium at Dieruff High School in Allentown sat empty, but after tremendous support from the community, it has been reopened as “The Learning Dome.”
“We decided we needed to do something to restore it,” said Lee Butz of Alvin H. Butz Inc. in Allentown. “And we’ve done it to a level that is far beyond the original.”
Butz said after hearing of financial struggles to renovate the old learning space, he reached out to various companies and businesses to get them to donate their services. “The most important thing to me is that businesses see the importance of urban kids education, and they will do whatever it takes it to provide funds or services to address that very important initiative,” said Butz.
“As students, we’re more capable of learning hands on, rather than reading an intricate detail from a textbook,” said Dieruff senior Yumaira Saavedra. “We would like to go more in depth, so with the learning dome, I think that’ll be a very great experience for students.”
Saavedra said she looks forward to the opportunity to work in the dome during her last year, but she also said the younger students behind her will benefit from it because they will have more time to spend as the years go on.
The Learning Dome will allow students to dig deeper in subjects like anatomy, history, and geology because of advanced technology. “We’ll actually understand where they’re coming from, and learn the subject a bit more,” said Saavedra.
It cost about $400,000 to renovate the dome, according to Butz. He said because of the fundraising success, an additional $400,000 was set aside to fund future initiatives in the dome.
State Sen. Pat Browne, R-Lehigh, secured $200,000 in state funding to support this project, according to his office.
“It’s going to be a source of great pride to a lot of city kids who are not accustomed to having that kind of facility to be proud of,” said Butz.
