Cool Things Kids Do: Balloon launched to "edge of atmosphere"

Congratulations to the middle schoolers in Baxter, Minn., selected today as winner's of Samsung's national Solve for Tomorrow contest. The seventh- and eighth-graders built and launched a high-altitude balloon, which carried cameras and other measurement equipment to the stratosphere.

March 11, 2013 at 4:41PM

Congratulations to the middle schoolers in Baxter, Minn., selected today as winners of Samsung's national Solve for Tomorrow contest. The seventh- and eighth-graders built, launched and tracked a helium-powered balloon, which carried cameras and climate-measuring equipment high into the stratosphere.

The winning project, which is described by the students in this two-minute video, earned Forestview Middle School $100,000 in computers and other technology from Samsung. Around 1,600 schools entered the contest, and 75 were selected as semi-finalists and asked to create a video showing how their use of science, technology, engineering and mathematics could benefit the environment and their communities.

Cool Things Kids Do is an occasional series on the extraordinary kids and teens in this community. Know of any kids doing amazing things, big or small? Email jeremy.olson@startribune.com.

Prior blogs from the series:

  1. Chaska teen speaks at White House
    1. Lemonade fundraiser for cancer victim
      1. Growing Veggies and Feeding the Hungry
        1. 10th Grader Earns Top Nature Photo Honor
          1. Collection Drive Nets 900 Books for Needy Kids
            1. Central senior links classmates to career advice
              1. Swimming two miles in Lake Superior
                about the writer

                about the writer

                edinajo

                More from No Section

                See More
                FILE -- A rent deposit slot at an apartment complex in Tucker, Ga., on July 21, 2020. As an eviction crisis has seemed increasingly likely this summer, everyone in the housing market has made the same plea to Washington: Send money — lots of it — that would keep renters in their homes and landlords afloat. (Melissa Golden/The New York Times) ORG XMIT: XNYT58
                Melissa Golden/The New York Times

                It’s too soon to tell how much the immigration crackdown is to blame.