Pink Floyd’s line about not needing education was taken a little too literally Wednesday, March 7, when an immersive five-dimensional theater (affectionately dubbed the Pink Floyd Experience) was set up in the mid-level cafeteria.

"What attracted me? I noticed a big inflatable dome in the middle of the lunch room and thought, 'What's this?’" said Alex B. Morton, who is not a Pink Floyd fan but went in four times with a friend named Arden anyway.

Morton and Arden ended up sitting outside the theater, playing host to other students as they patiently awaited their multiple turns. "I spent like an hour going in and out of it. I went to class, but it turned out that my teacher wasn’t there, so I came back and watched it a few more times," explained Morton.

Morton’s teacher just might have been inside the dome, where MCC - PV teacher Kelly Jamal took her entire class, and many other students ditched class to see what all of the fuss was about. "There was loud music, with Pink Floyd," exclaimed Eric Wootem, MCC - PV student turned ditch-day dude.

The reason more MCC - Penn Valley students were in the cafeteria than in the classroom can probably best be explained by Wootem himself. “The simple logic in that is that I go to class every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I have the opportunity to do this maybe once. So, it’s just carpe diem,” Wootem said, before hustling over to Rockhurst to attend his other class of the day.

The Pink Floyd Theater won MCC - Penn Valley over by playing favorite Pink Floyd tunes as well as techno for to those people who aren’t fans of Pink Floyd.

What seemed like a big blue camping tent turned into a musical wonderland once you squeezed through the entrance. After making your way in, you set foot into a dark little room with the Kramer logo on the ceiling.

You start out sitting on the floor and staring up as the show begins. However, you eventually find yourself lying (on the cafeteria floor, mind you) and staring up, trying to take in as much as humanly possible of the images projected all around the inside of the dome.

PV student Matthew Gauer described it as "almost like a music video come to life, as it wraps around you and gives you a mind boggling experience. It’s really nice."

"It was absolutely like a different experience. I’ve never seen anything [like this] computer animation stuff. It felt like I was actually in whatever they were showing me. It was different," exclaimed MCC - PV student Emil Aminov.

"I hope Wal-mart can start selling them soon, because I want one for my house. It’ll be great to play video games on," continued Aminov.

The show ran from 10:00am to 4:00pm, excluding a 15 minute lunch break (which did not make the educated mob happy). It ended after the last group went back to the Francis Child Development Institute to await the arrival of their parents and investigate an afternoon snack.

Copyright 2007 Metropolitan Community College