The Henry W. Ray Special Experience Room & Planetarium

{Ser-DK-Jupiter} Big changes are in the works for the Henry W. Ray Special Experience Room & Planetarium, currently located in the Everett A. McDonald Elementary School. With the closing of McDonald scheduled for 2012, the SER is slated to move to the new William Tennent High School for the opening of school in the fall of 2011. The new facility will share its space (pun intended) with a newly designed Distance Learning Center that will open at the same time.

 

The SER originally opened in 1969 as a combination multimedia theater/planetarium. To accommodate this multiple purpose, the planetarium star projector, usually mounted permanently in the center of the planetarium, was constructed on a elevator so that the Spitz STP star projector could be lowered completely out of the theater when not in use.

In its stowed position, the star projector was completely hidden by two trap doors which were flush to the floor when closed. It is believed that this was the first school planetarium in the world to utilize an elevator in this manner. Unlike most planetarium theaters, the Special Experience Room was built with no permanent seating arrangement. Chairs were arranged in a variety of formations, depending upon the type of presentation being given. For most lessons, ordinary class room chairs were arranged on three levels of risers which faced one half of the theater. In this configuration, approximately 45 students could be accommodated for a typical planetarium lesson.