"I can't even tell you what good news this is for us," the director of Hammond's Challenger Learning Center said in response to receiving some of the $2,825,000 for educational programs in Northwest Indiana that U.S. Rep. Pete Visclosky announced Wednesday.

Amanda Maynard, executive director of the Challenger Learning Center of Northwest Indiana, said the $750,000 earmarked for the center would go toward the purchase of a new planetarium projector and more planetarium shows. Those would allow the center to expand programming for the public, Maynard said.

Other awards in the funding bill:

- $850,000 will go to Ivy Tech Community College - Northwest for the establishment of a Center on Logistics, Distribution and Transportation.

- $850,000 will go to the YWCA of Northwest Indiana for after-school and summer programs.

- $250,000 will go to Valparaiso University for meteorological equipment.

- $125,000 will go to KIPP LEAD College Prep Charter School in Gary for student programs, staff training and curricula development.

The Challenger Center grant also will allow the center to expand professional development, Maynard said. With the slowed economy and a recent downturn in numbers of school groups, the grant will help with overall operations.

"We couldn't be more thrilled," she said.

Center programs annually serve about 20,000 schoolchildren across Northwest Indiana and south suburban Illinois.

The funding is included in the Fiscal Year 2009 Commerce, Justice, Science Appropriations bill; the Fiscal Year 2009 Financial Services and General Government Appropriations bill; and the Fiscal Year 2009 Labor, Health and Human Services, Education Appropriations bill.

The bills were expected to be approved by the House Appropriations Committee on Wednesday and today. All three bills must be approved by both the House and Senate before they can be signed into law by the president.