Ribbon Cutting Celebrates Kvamme Family Generosity

As Saratoga residents for 40 years, the Kvammes had been looking to give back to the community and wanted whatever they supported to be of world-class quality. When they heard about the planetarium project, the couple saw a natural fit with location and with interests – two of their sons had always been interested in optics and once built their own telescope and their grandson has a keen interest in astronomy. The Kvammes were also impressed with plans for outreach to the community and to schools.

At the time of his gift, E. Floyd Kvamme said “We’re hoping the planetarium will interest a lot of kids,” Kvamme said. “We hope it can interest students in things scientific that they might not think they’d be interested in. We’re hoping it will open doors for them.”

Built more than 40 years ago, the WVC planetarium was in desperate need of upgrades to keep up with technological and scientific advances in astronomy. Between the Kvammes’ $3.9M gift and $1.5 million from the Measure C bond, the planetarium was completely overhauled and brought up to modern planetarium standards.

West Valley College astronomy professor Benjamin Mendelsohn described how the old planetarium’s star projector could show about 1,000 stars. The new digital projector can show about 10,000 stars, reproducing the night sky with a much higher degree of accuracy. 

Additionally, says Mendelsohn, because everything is now computer-based, it is much easier to jump ahead, or back, in time when looking at space. Since modern planetariums draw on decades of data gathered through space exploration, the renovated WVC planetarium allows viewers to “voyage” off Earth and among the stars.

“We can literally take you from the present and moving out into space and back into time, we can go to those first few moments after the Big Bang and take you to the edge of the observable universe,” Mendelsohn said. “It’s really going to do some marvelous things for teaching astronomy.”

The ribbon cutting ceremony for the renovated planetarium was well attended by the Kvamme family and many of their close friends. Sadly, Jean Kvamme passed away in September 2020 following a battle with cancer. In his heartwarming and poignant remarks to the crowd, her loving husband Floyd, spoke of Jean's vision for the Planetarium and how she proudly incorporated her keen sense of style and design throughout the planning process. 

Inspiring Young Scientists

The new facility gives West Valley College's Science and Math Department a fantastic new resource for partnering with K-12 students and teachers. In fact, part of the Kvammes’ gift established an endowment to ensure resources are available for such outreach. The new planetarium also includes a museum of science.