The Marie Drake Planetarium

Where the stars always shine in Juneau, AK

1980 - 1989 Shows and Events

1980-1981

No record of shows

1982 - 1984

  • $2,000 obtained for Marie Drake from ESEA Title IV-C Teacher Incentive Initiative Grant for 1982-1983 school year.
  • 1,430 people were served, mostly elementary students.    K- 9th grade students, some community groups and the public were served. Shows were advertised.
  • Earth Science students at Marie Drake prepared planetarium scripts. Students picked their own topics, did research, picked music and selected slides for their shows. They also contacted teachers explaining what shows were available. Completed shows were:
  • The Milky Way
  • The Moon
  • The Planets
  • Meteors
  • Constellations

1984
  • 1,179 people attended Jan to March
  • 439 visitors from four schools in January
  • Feb. Three to four shows per week with 485 attendees including public and private schools.
  • March:  First evening show for adult public.
  •  April attendees included Big brothers big sisters, Pelican school brings 30 students from K-5th grade.
  • March: Glacier Valley, Marie Drake Juniou=r High, Auke Bay, Mendenall River Community School, 

School Groups
  • JOM pre-school
  • Capitol School
  • Auke Bay Elementary
  • Harborview
  • Glacier Valley
  • Gastineau
  • Floyd Dryden
  • Marie Drake Junior High school
  • Auke Bay Coop
  • Juneau Christian School
  • Castle Life Covenant
  • Fellowship School

Community Groups and public
  • MENSA
  • Girl Scout Troop - to help them get badge in astronomy
  • Brownie Troop
  • One show for general public

www.slideshare.net

Students benefited from the grant by:
  • used writing skills and creativity,
  • did public speaking with a large audience
  • learned how a planetarium worked
  • were able to get a "hands on" experience
  • completed course study in astronomy

1983-1984 School Year

A second ECIA Chapter II grant obtained for the 1983 to 1984 school year. This time for $5,409.
Ninth grade earth science students at Marie Drake Junior High School wrote planetarium shows which included music, slides and current information. They critiqued each other. This was organized by Teal Schneider. 
The students then presented their shows to elementary students from January to May.  Attendance for the year was 1,673 and evaluations were rated highly by attendees. In addition, 30 K-5th grade students from Pelican school district attended and Big Brothers Big Sisters came to planetarium in evening. Some evening shows were also done for adults and children. Public invited via an article in the Juneau Empire.

Information from narrative evaluations by teachers Teal Schneider and Lnn Divelbess.
The major expenditure was for the repair and maintenance of the spitz projector which had not been serviced for ten years. Bill Richie, a Spitz Space Systems technician, came in September, 1983. He did cleaning and repairing of all parts of the machine and described all the parts to the 9th grade students. He did training and emphasized the need to lock up the console when not in use. Community Schools provided locking covers for projector console. 

Official attendance through March 20th, 1984  was 1,179, so I estimate total school year attendance to be 1,650.

Seven shows:

Northern Skies

The Planets

Comet and Meteors

The Sun

Southern Constellations

The Moon

A Star is born

1985 to 1989

No reecord of shows