Metro High weather balloon takes learning to new heights

CEDAR RAPIDS — They may still be in high school, but students at Metro High School on Tuesday gave new meaning to the term 'higher education.'

Standing on the roof of the Cedar Rapids Public Library, a handful of students in the school's STEAM Academy launched a white weather balloon into the sky. They are on a mission to collect data to help them study Earth's atmosphere and weather patterns.

This was the second launch for students at the school. An initial launch last year was a test, said Chuck Tonelli, environmental science teacher at Metro.

'Our two goals were simply to get some camera footage and get it back, and we did that successfully,' Tonelli said. 'This time, we have our weather station data collector, basically an onboard computer, that's going to collect data as it goes up.'

Based on today's weather patterns, the group expects the balloon to land near Dyersville later this afternoon where they are to pick it up and begin analyzing the information collected.

Jacob Nolan, a sophomore at the school, said a lot of work went into preparing the weather balloon for launch.

'That computer, we programmed it all. We pretty much built it ... a lot of programming and a lot of errors,' Nolan said, adding this was a project right up his alley.

'I love engineering,' he said. 'Personally, this is probably one of my favorite classes at Metro.'

Students in the STEAM Academy — a class that incorporates lessons from science, technology, engineering, art and math subjects — have received support from Rockwell Collins, an avionics and information technology systems company based in Cedar Rapids.

Rich Dean, a lab technician in satellite communications at Rockwell Collins, worked with the students to program the data recording device.

'If the students see accomplishments, it's just going to build,' Dean said.