TAYLOR, Pa. — A long-forgotten observatory outside Riverside High School in Lackawanna County has a history that begins on Christmas morning, 1974.
"It's actually my wife's fault. She bought me a telescope in 1974, or so it's believed," said former teacher John Kosek.
Kosek started the school's observatory on the heels of the space race and the moon landing. He was its steward for decades until his retirement in 2007.
Then, the place went by the wayside and was used for storage until some Riverside alumni stepped in.
"Actually, one of my former students, Dave Wolf, and his wife, Donna, both made a presentation to the district. They wanted to see if they could talk the district into getting this back into operation again. That's where this rebirth sort of started. Mr Toth took the ball from there, and the rest is history, I guess," Kosek said.
Current teacher Travis Toth is the new Mr. Kosek, so to speak, but he says getting to the grand reopening took a team effort.
"All my students in my STEM courses this year, we actually came out here, we painted it, we redid everything, so the kids were part of the entire process," Toth said.
It's a revamped observatory for the students by the students.
"We got a board up on the wall so we can give lessons out here on days where it might be cloudy. We've got a television in here so we can go through and look at videos. We can take pictures from our telescope and present it to everybody. We really just wanted to make this a place where everybody wants to come in; they want to be a part of this," Toth said.
Mr. Kosek was excited to be a part of it, too, and was invited back for the grand reopening to see the start of a whole new chapter for the observatory he had started.
"I'm so happy it's going to be used again. I always thought when I retired, this was going to be my legacy; it'll be here longer than I will," Kosek said. "And it's going to now."