CENTERVILLE -- Watching a hot-air balloon rise into the sky just yards from where he was sitting is not the kind of experience fifth-grader Carson Ashby has most days at school.
"This is pretty interesting because I've never seen it before," the Stewart Elementary School student said as he joined 600 fellow students to watch the event.
Stewart Elementary was one of only nine schools to receive a special visit from one of the Antelope Island Balloon Festival's hot-air balloons as part of the week's events leading up to the Labor Day weekend Antelope Island Stampede Festival.
The kindergartners even knew how the balloon worked as they stood by, watching and answering their teachers' questions about what happens when the balloon stops getting hot air blown into it.
"See, they know," said kindergarten teacher Michele Juarez. "Even kindergartners can learn about the scientific principles of how hot air rises."
The program was started four years ago by the Davis Area Convention and Visitors Bureau. This year, 24 schools were interested in having a hot-air balloon come visit their school, but only nine were chosen.
"We started this program as a way of teaching kids about flight and bringing them an experience they don't typically get at a school assembly," said Kathi Dysert, director of sales and marketing for Davis Area CVB.
The youngsters definitely were treated to an unusual experience while sitting on the grass, listening as Kent Barnes, of Murray, and his three-person ground crew took about 20 minutes to inflate the balloon with the help of giant blowers.
For Barnes, visiting the schools is a special experience because it is such a big deal for the students.
"We enjoy taking the balloon out to the kids because it gives them exposure to the balloon and gets them up close and personal where they can touch and feel it," he said.
There is concern in the community that today's young people aren't exposed enough to science and that there is a great deficit as a result.
The Aerospace Education Foundation is determined to close the gap by sponsoring such events as the balloons visiting schools so students can get excited about science.
"We see the balloons as a way to do that directly with the schools they go to and get the kids interested in science and technology with the goal eventually of having them at least understand the role the aerospace industry plays in our country," said Wally Saeger, president of the Utah Aerospace Education Foundation.
The children in Davis County already are familiar with the industry because of Hill Air Force Base's jets flying over, but Saeger said too many kids these days don't see a real need to be involved in science.
"It is our future, so we need to put emphasis on it through things like this and giving grants to teachers so they can have programs to support aeronautics," he said.
It was certainly a morning the students at Stewart Elementary will remember, and maybe even a few budding scientists will grow up to prove the Aerospace Education Foundation's efforts were a success.
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