WILTON, Iowa -- The Wilton Community School District's new observatory is taking shape. It's part of a project that's been in the works for more than a year.
On Wednesday, March 27, organizers and students started putting together the structure of their observatory. They worked on setting up walls, a roof and a controller system.
The project plan is to give students, and the community, an opportunity to engage in science through astronomy. Project leader Grant Harkness said the observatory is aimed at getting kids interested in STEM subjects: science, technology, engineering and math.
"We're going to be building a state-of-the-art observatory housing an amazing telescope amazing instrumentation modules that are far in advance of what students this age would normally get the opportunity to have hands on with," said Harkness.
The project was funded through grants and private donors.
The observatory is expected to be fully functional by the 2019-2020 school year.
