Sarah Silberman, a 97-year-old sculptor and former longtime art student at Montgomery College, recently donated $500,000 to renovate the gallery at the school’s Rockville campus.

Some of the money will be used to install new floors, lighting and walls in the gallery, which now will be called the Sarah Silberman Art Gallery. The rest of it will go toward new display cases, which will feature Silberman’s work along with the art of students, faculty and community artists.

It was not until after her husband’s death that Silberman, then 71, discovered Montgomery College. In 25 years, she took more than 170 art classes on the Rockville campus.

In 2004, Montgomery College’s Alumni Association honored Silberman with an Outstanding Alumni Award for her dedication to lifelong learning.

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According to a news release, later that year the college hosted an exhibit of Silberman’s sculptures, the first time a current student was honored with a solo exhibit at the school’s gallery.

After the solo exhibit, Montgomery College published “The Genius of Sarah Silberman: A Lifetime Student of Sculpture,” a book that chronicles Silberman’s artistry through photographs and her life story.

Silberman, of Silver Spring, was honored with the college’s Arts Stars Lifetime Achievement Award and was ultimately given an honorary degree from the school last year.

Work on the Sarah Silberman Art Gallery will begin this summer and should be complete by September.