At Coshocton Planetarium, students and community members are still reaching for the stars

COSHOCTON − The Coshocton Planetarium is a relic of a past era that has been revitalized and modernized for continued use by students of Coshocton City Schools and the general public.

The planetarium dates back to 1962 and the old Coshocton High School, which was turned into the middle school and then Central Elementary. The building was demolished in 2013.

Ron Derewecki adjusts controls of equipment at the Coshocton Planetarium. Derewicki spearheaded a campaign in 2013 to move the planetarium from the former Central Elementary School when it was demolished. Along with classes for students, the planetarium is also used for public shows to give back to a community who donated more than $420,000 to save the planetarium.

However, Ron Derewecki couldn’t imagine allowing such a valuable local resource go, something other communities and school districts would love to have. The earth science teacher was the planetarium director from 1971 to 2002 and is still involved with running public shows. This included the recent Season of Light program.

“I meet a lot of former students and this is one of the things they remember me by. It’s funny, I was in the classroom with them for 35 years and the only thing they can remember is ‘Hey, you ran the planetarium,'” Derweicki said. “They enjoy coming back to the planetarium with their children and, in some cases, their grandchildren.”

The planetarium was moved to the current Coshocton High School and reopened in 2018. More than $420,000 was raised to facilitate the move and installation in Room 412. It features 50 reclining seats, a digital projector, the planetarium’s original projector and a dome with repainted and power washed panels.

“I think it’s a good way to teach science. It’s just not teaching astronomy,” Derewicki said. “It’s teaching science in general.”

The Coshocton Planetarium at Coshocton High School features old telescopes and other equipment to give students a sense of the history of the planetarium and studying the stars.

Science teacher Mallory Palmer is the current planetarium director and teaches classes in it often. Among the classes are astronomy for high school students and a pre-astronomy course for eighth-graders. Elementary students also come over for classes sometimes. Discussed is moon phases, the life cycle of a star, the constellations and more.

Palmer feels other curriculum, like showing ecosystems via videos on the planetarium panels, is also valuable along with them seeing objects like old telescopes and memorabilia from the past.

“This makes it a lot more real for them,” Palmer said. “It really gives them a more hands-on experience. The videos are nice, because they’re more immersive than watching a YouTube video in the classroom.”

The projector of the Coshocton Planetarium at Coshocton High School with the dome images are displayed on in the background.

Principal Scott Loomis believes it’s important for all students to have exposure to the planetarium and it’s a key reason the eighth grade course was started last school year.

“Getting all our kids to have shows in here follows through on (Derewicki’s) vision, getting our kids back in here and using it,” Loomis said.

Leonard Hayhurst is a community content coordinator and general news reporter for the Coshocton Tribune with more than 15 years of local journalism experience and multiple awards from the Ohio Associated Press. He can be reached at 740-295-3417 or llhayhur@coshoctontribune.com. Follow him on X 9 (formerly Twitter) at @llhayhurst.

This article originally appeared on Coshocton Tribune: Coshocton Planetarium educates students and offers public shows