Senior reaches for the stars before graduation

McNAIRY COUNTY, Tenn. — McNairy Central High School senior Allie Ray is less than two months away from graduation, but before she walks the stage, she is giving her future alma mater a stellar facelift.

“When I see people come to help me today, it really blesses my heart,” Ray said about the crowd who came to see her paint the high school planetarium, Friday afternoon.

Ray wants to bring back the high school’s planetarium that was an icon when it was built in 1969, but closed in the early 90’s.

“Her dad and I just looked at each other and said, ‘Oh my goodness, that’s a big project,’ Allie’s mom, Stephanie Ray said.

That icon is something nearly an entire community remembers.

“I can remember coming to the planetarium on a field trip, and I thought the ceiling rolled back and we were actually looking at the stars,” Stephanie Ray explained.

“We have a whole generation of people who remember how great it was, and they’re willing to put some effort and put some money into making it that way again,” Sarah Allison said, who is Allie’s teacher and one of her senior project mentors.

So many people want to see this piece of history return, more than $15,000 has been raised through local donations, and Allie has been writing grants to buy the equipment, costing nearly $70,000.

When the planetarium is reopened, it will truly be an education experience.

“They’re going to be able to see stars, galaxies, basically anything space-related, and you can get tons of other videos we could possibly show,” Allison explained.

Allie hopes to one day return to the classroom in a different way.

“I want to teach, possibly math, but possibly science field and want to teach somewhere in the science area, so this would be pretty neat to come back to my own classroom,” Allie said.

Allie will find out in May whether she received the grant, and if she does not, the planetarium will still be a functioning classroom until the equipment can be purchased.

To help Allie finish this project, visit the ‘Seen on 7’ section of www.wbbjtv.com.