Planetarium receives $16K grant to provide field trips for K-12 students

Monday, Sep 28, 2026 • Drew Davison : Contact

The UTA Planetarium has received a $16,000 grant from H-E-B Tournament of Champions Charitable Trust (H-E-B TOC) to help pay the cost of field trips to Planetarium shows for area K-12 schools with significant numbers of economically disadvantaged students.

This is the sixth consecutive year H-E-B TOC has awarded a grant to UTA. The grant will be used for the Planetarium’s Stellar Funding initiative, which provides funds to help defray the cost of field trips for area schools. H-E-B TOC’s grant will provide hundreds of students with the opportunity to visit the UTA campus and see a Planetarium show at no cost.

The Planetarium’s first grant from H-E-B TOC came during the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2021 and helped the Planetarium provide virtual field trips to K-12 students.

“The Planetarium is very grateful to H-E-B Tournament of Champions Charitable Trust for providing this continued support,” said Levent Gurdemir, UTA Planetarium director. “This generous grant will enable more students to visit the Planetarium, regardless of their economic status.

“Thanks to the generosity of H-E-B TOC, thousands of students have been able to learn about space and become inspired by STEM through our Planetarium shows. We’re very pleased that this new grant will allow more students to have that same experience.”

For more than 35 years, H-E-B TOC has invested over $100 million in nonprofit organizations focused on the needs of children and families throughout the state.

The UTA Planetarium provides educational entertainment to nearly 50,000 visitors each year, including close to 30,000 students from K-12 schools around the D-FW Metroplex. Since opening in 2006, the Planetarium has been host to more than half a million K-12 students through class field trips to the UTA campus.

The facility, which features a 60-foot dome projection surface, is equipped with a Digistar 7 projection system, the most advanced technology commercially available to planetariums.

Digistar 7 uses six laser projectors for 360-degree ultra-bright high-resolution views. It features 3D models and provides universities and planetariums worldwide with instant real-time access to an extensive cloud of astronomy and science databases from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, including the latest planetarium shows.

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About The University of Texas at Arlington (UTA)

The University of Texas at Arlington is a growing public research university in the heart of Dallas-Fort Worth. With a student body of over 42,700, UTA is the second-largest institution in the University of Texas System, offering more than 180 undergraduate and graduate degree programs. Recognized as a Carnegie R-1 university, UTA stands among the nation’s top 5% of institutions for research activity. UTA and its 300,000 alumni generate an annual economic impact of $28.8 billion for the state. The University has received the Innovation and Economic Prosperity designation from the Association of Public and Land Grant Universities and has earned recognition for its focus on student access and success, considered key drivers to economic growth and social progress for North Texas and beyond.