Students at Longmont's Crossroads School reach new heights with hot air balloon
Oct. 6—The weather was cool and clear early Wednesday morning at Longmont's Crossroads School — perfect conditions for a hot air balloon ride. Luckily for Crossroads students, they had the opportunity to do just that thanks to a visit from Colorado ballooning company Namaste Balloons, which has a launch site in Longmont.
The morning began with students watching a commercial hot air balloon fill with 105,000 cubic feet of air and lift over a thousand feet into the sky. Afterward, it was the students' turn to set up and take down a balloon with the help of the Namaste Balloons crew, in a field just east of the school on 15th Avenue.
The balloon they brought has a name: Santita, or "little saint."
"It's a smaller balloon designed to go up and down faster," explained pilot John Gruenberg.
Gruenberg's long history with hot air balloons came full circle Wednesday. He remembers when a local balloonist visited his school and offered students an up-close experience with a hot air balloon. Gruenberg took to it immediately and got his first balloon license at 14.
"I was one of these kids in the crowd going, 'Oh, I want to do that!'" he said.
Crossroads School started in 2010 to serve youths who struggle in traditional schooling. The school currently has 25 students with room for more, said Executive Director Barb Bulthuis.
"There are a lot of kids who don't fit the traditional system," Bulthuis said. "We've got interesting, creative, smart kids who just need to be taught in a way that works for them."
Emily Flerchinger, a junior, was one of the students who helped get the balloon ready for inflation by spreading it out over the grass and finding the temperature gauge.
"Honestly, I really like physics," Flerchinger said. "The coolest part of the experience was probably getting to see the inside of the balloon."
Once Santita was up and running, students were invited to take a quick flight in the basket, ascending about 15 feet with the balloon tethered to the ground.
"I was scared and excited at the same time," said Kohen Thibodeau, a seventh-grader, after coming down from his flight.
Leading up to Wednesday, students had a few lessons on the physics of hot air balloons in their science classes. After the hands-on experience, the students participated in a lab activity to grasp the concepts more thoroughly.
"Kids learn in different ways," said Konni Keuter, assistant principal and a history teacher at Crossroads. "We could teach them physics out of a book and talk about hot air balloons, and maybe even show them a video. But this makes it all become very real for them."
Keuter is also on the Namaste Balloons crew and has been for about a year. She has wanted to bring a hot air balloon to the school since September of last year but said the weather never cooperated. Thankfully, everything was optimal on Wednesday, the day set by the crew weeks in advance.
"These hands-on activities make them understand that physics is part of our world," Keuter said.
