Harrison Elementary students and faculty are over the moon about the unveiling of the school’s new Astronomical Observatory. A dedication ceremony was held Thursday night at the observatory, behind the elementary school. The observatory has a sliding roof so the telescopes can be used and features a stationary telescope donated by Warsaw Community Schools. It also has a movable telescope purchased using funds Harrison Elementary students raised during a school carnival. A building was constructed to house the telescopes, purchased with a $5,000 Teachers and Technology Grant from CenturyLink. Ed Jarrett, fifth-grade Harrison elementary teacher, and Rick Glass, second-grade Harrison elementary teacher, are both members of Warsaw Astronomical Society and wanted to bring their passion for the subject to Harrison. “We felt we have an understanding of space and wanted to pass that on to students,” Jarrett said. Glass started meeting with his second grade students in 2013 beyond classroom instruction to teach them about space. “There were seven kids who had an abundant desire to learn about space so they agreed to give up their recess two to three days a week to study space,” Glass said. The Harrison Junior Astronomical Society was formed in 2013 beginning with seven students and now has grown to 56 students. “We want the students to become more literate with the night sky and develop skills with astro imaging using a camera along with the telescope,” Jarrett said. Glass said the observatory opens up a new set of doors for students to learn and explore. Harrison Junior Astronomical Society members Hayley Jones and Karson Sizemore, both fourth graders, were two of the original seven students who gave up their recess to learn about astronomy. “I wanted to learn about astronomy and thought of all the things I would like to see,” Jones said. Sizemore said he likes science and learning new things. Rory Murphy, fifth-grade Harrison student and Junior Astronomical Society member, said he has enjoyed learning about astronomy in the classroom and looks forward to using the observatory. “It is fun learning about everything in the galaxy and the planets,” Murphy said. Randy Polston, former Harrison Elementary principal and current Warsaw Community School Board member, attended the unveiling and said the observatory will be an asset to the school. “When we opened Harrison in 1991 we had the acreage available and our dream was to turn this into a learning campus with a wide range of possibilities for kids and take that learning outside the classroom as was mentioned here tonight,” Polston said. “There are future careers being started here.” Heather Reichenbach, school board member, said the observatory correlates with the corporation’s focus on STEM and is a great addition to Washington STEM Academy and the STEM bus. “Science, Technology, Engineering and Math all coordinate with telescopes and astronomy,” Reichenbach said.
