WALDORF, Md. – On Saturday, July 27th, the James E. Richmond Science Center, located at St. Charles High School in Waldorf, held an event marking the 10th anniversary of the ribbon cutting for the facility.
According to Patrick Rowley, one of the program facilitators, the primary users of the planetarium are field trips from Charles County Schools, as well as schools from the surrounding areas. The local schools, in certain grades, have the field trip built into the curriculum for a lesson at the center.
The planetarium is also visited frequently by St. Mary’s County Schools, as well as some from Calvert, PG, a few charter schools from DC, home schools, private schools, daycare centers, and senior groups. However the facility is also open to the public at large, and Mr. Rowley emphasized that they hope to get more people from the community to come and take advantage of the largest Planetarium in the state of Maryland.
The Science Center is part of the Charles County School System and is managed by the Board of Education. It does run independently from the St. Charles High School where the facility is located – and this can lead the community to assume it’s part of the school – but in truth the center does hope to attract the public to come and use the resource too.
“Every Wednesday and Thursday at 6:30 pm we have a 360-degree full dome public show in the Planetarium,” said Rowley “and usually on the first and third Saturday mornings of the month we’ll have 3 shows as well.”
Mr. Rowley works on another interesting technical installation, the “Science on a Sphere” which is located in the lobby of the planetarium. This illuminated globe, developed by NOAA, projects near real time data measurements from Earth including surface temperature and is the first thing most visitors see as they prepare to enter the planetarium.
This attraction is very engaging, especially to the younger visitors, who occasionally need a reminder to stay behind the railing and observe the “Star Trek” like hologram image without touching it.
The 10th anniversary event did draw some enthusiastic attendees. Kristen Carlsen, a resident from Waldorf, was leaving the building after the event and shared her observations: “This is the first time I’ve been able to experience the Science Center, and I had a phenomenal time. The show was amazing, it really felt like you were experiencing space.” She added that her family was amazed by the performance of the host and how dynamic and engaging the presentation was – and the day appeared to be a big hit with her group, including her young nephew who was with her as they exited and seemed pleased.
The James R. Richmond Science Center is located on the campus of St. Charles High School at 5305 Piney Church Road in Waldorf.
Information about the programs offered to the public as well as membership opportunities and ticket sales, is located on their website or the Facebook page.
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