NEED 

CSM and the San Mateo County Community Colleges Foundation have joined together to launch Reach for the Stars, a campaign to raise $750,000 for a star projector and other planetarium equipment.

Now completed, CSM's new science building houses an observatory with a motorized retracting roof and a soon-to-be-opened planetarium. The planetarium's current star projector, however, is more than 40 years old and replacement parts are increasingly unavailable.

CSM's robust astronomy program meets a genuine community need. CSM is one of the few sites in the Bay Area offering community, K-12 and higher education programs in a single planetarium setting. Each year several thousand visitors participate in star-gazing parties, lectures, Astronomy Days and other public events.

Reach for the Stars is currently soliciting donations from private and corporate foundations, public agencies and individuals. One important feature of the campaign is the “Wall of Stars.” The names of individuals who donate $50 or more will be displayed in the planetarium's foyer. (Campaign logos have been designed by CSM student Patricia López-Hurtado, newly graduated from the graphic arts program.)