 A Brainerd area middle school has put itself on the map after launching a balloon project that explores the sky above us and gathers scientific data that can be used by classes at the school to study weather patterns. As Clayton Castle tells us, the project is catching the eyes of scientists around the country. Using a balloon for research, that's exactly what's happening at Forest View Middle School in Baxter, where students are studying the jet stream in weather patterns using a balloon floater that has been circumnavigating the globe and collecting important data since mid-March. The best data that we get from our floater tracker is that the location where it's traveling, it updates, so it gives us what the jet stream is doing, because essentially what happens is we fill the balloon with just enough helium to find neutral buoyancy. The balloon is approximately the size of a garbage bag with a credit card size tracker attached to it. The current balloon is the second installment of the project after the first try was cut short. For a second try at success, the club had to simply pick a better day to release the floater. The weather for us, we picked a day that was nicer outside. The first balloon we launched, we launched in the evening or the afternoon, which is a bad time of day to do it. So the second balloon we picked a really nice sunny day, no clouds in the sky and very very light winds, so we could get aloft, we could get up above the weather before we reached any cloud decks. So we looked within about four or three, four hundred miles of our area to make sure that there are no cloud decks nearby and we let it go. After the balloon completed one full circumnavigation around the globe, the school was recognized by Scientific Balloon Solutions in Boston as being the first middle school in the world to fly a scientific balloon around the world. For the teachers, this project is a good way to tout the importance of STEM programs and courses in schools, which has had a positive impact at Forest View. So by incorporating these STEM courses into our curriculum and as an after school, it allows these kids to find a door, a gateway, to find their unique skills and then obviously share them with others alike. And finally for the students, they learn that success is only achieved when teams can work well together. To me what it means is being part of a team and being part and able to work with others to achieve a simple or complex goal. Now even though the balloon hasn't checked in since Saturday afternoon, its last known location was around Kazakhstan. Reporting in Baxter, Clayton Castle, Lakeland News. And the school should know this weekend whether the loss of communication with the balloon is due to a mechanical issue or if the balloon is no longer in the air. If you've enjoyed this segment of Lakeland News, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution to Lakeland Public Television.