TROY — WACO Air Museum and Learning Center, 1865 S. county Road 25A, Troy, plans to mark the official start of construction of a new Learning Center building with a groundbreaking ceremony, Friday, Sept. 15, at 4 p.m.

The ceremony will take place in conjunction with the WACO 20th annual fly-in. This year also marks the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the WACO Learning Center.

In order to represent both the past and the future of the WACO Learning Center, Jim Beisner, the first Learning Center director, will lead the groundbreaking, along with several students and a robot from the WACO robotics teams.

“It is only fitting that the youth and a robot be involved in this groundbreaking, since the original donation to kick off this project was given by Thom and Pat Robinson for the purpose of expanding the STEM learning activities to take place here at the museum,” said Nancy Royer, current Learning Center director.

“The Robinsons had observed the number of students involved in our programs and our limited space for carrying out our educational goals,” Royer said. The 13,000-square-foot building will be constructed with the $1 million dollar donation made by the Robinson Foundation. WACO plans to raise additional funds in order to outfit the building with appropriate labs, meeting rooms and technology to operate STEM programs.