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Mt. Lebanon High School students launch weather balloon

By Harry Funk 3 min read
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Harry Funk / Staff The weather balloon floats away above the field of Mt. Lebanon High School Stadium.

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Harry Funk / Staff Mt. Lebanon High School student Josh Kalapos steadies the balloon during its inflation.

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Harry Funk / Staff A Mt. Lebanon High School student prepares the container carrying the cargo for the balloon launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff Mt. Lebanon High School students prepare for the balloon launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff A Mt. Lebanon High School student prepares for the balloon launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff Mt. Lebanon High School students prepare for the balloon launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff Mt. Lebanon High School students prepare for the balloon launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff Mt. Lebanon High School students prepare for the balloon launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff Mt. Lebanon High School students prepare for the balloon launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff Mt. Lebanon High School student Josh Kalapos holds the balloon prior to its launch.

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Harry Funk / Staff The parachute and instrument container are launched with the balloon.

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Harry Funk / Staff Up, up and away!

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Harry Funk / Staff Up, up and away!

You’ve seen kids who accidentally launch a helium-filled balloon – you probably did so, yourself – and start crying because it’s headed for destinations unknown.

The Mt. Lebanon High School students who launched a weather balloon from the school stadium on the cold, clear morning of Dec. 5 were able to keep track of its whereabouts, thanks to technology.

Using the call sign KC3FOE on the website http://aprs.fi, students were able to ascertain that their balloon took a rather circuitous route before winding up in Indiana County, somewhat north of the projected destination of Latrobe.

The launch represented the culmination of a project on which about 40 students worked, designing their own system and equipping the balloon with devices to collect such data as ozone and ultraviolet light measurements, along with air pressure, temperature and, of course, location. Also aboard was a parachute to allow everything to land relatively intact for project participants to retrieve.

”They had this idea to send a weather balloon up 100,000 feet in the atmosphere, that contains a couple of different sensors to take atmospheric data and two GoPros that will record images of the balloon’s ascent and descent,” teacher Mike Gullo said about his Advanced Placement environmental geoscience students.

Fellow teacher Vince Scalzo said inspiration came from a video shown in class of a father and his two children doing something similar.

“When the students were watching that, they wanted to improve on that, do something a little different,” he explained. “So by adding in sensors and collecting different data, that would enhance the experience.”

The teachers ran the idea past Chris Stengel, the school district’s director of technology.

“He absolutely loved it,” Gullo said. “His overall vision is to see how technology enhances student learning and enhances creativity, and the overall application of real-life scientific research.”

After taking time to inflate the balloon and make sure that its cargo was attached securely, students let the sphere fly at about 8:45 a.m., into a blue sky that represented a welcome change from windy, dreary Nov. 13, when the launch originally was scheduled to take place.

That was a school day, but the students who worked on the project didn’t seem to mind spending a Saturday morning giving it a go and applying the skills they have learned in the classroom.

“I think that’s really important,” Scalzo said, “building something and creating something, rather than taking another quiz and another test.”

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