As we get closer to this year’s Balloons Over Vermilion at Vermilion Regional Airport, Garfield School students received a special hot air balloon lesson right inside their own school gym on Monday morning. Abby Carlton’s third grade class is the ambassador class for this year’s event, so they and other Garfield classes took turns going inside a cold-inflated balloon in the gym to get an up close look at everything.
Mrs. Carlton’s Ambassador Class for Balloons Over Vermilion await the start of the show.
Balloon pilot Donna Jean Carlton-Vish stated they’re hoping to spur some interest in being future hot air balloon pilots, and she explained some of the things they went over while in the balloon on the gym floor.
AUDIO: And then we file the children in, and they sit down, and we have our lesson inside there. We teach them what makes the balloon fly. We teach them how to become a pilot, how to become crew; and then just some general weather, because weather is very important to balloon pilots. We always use a balloon that is old; one that doesn’t fly anymore. First rule is, you don’t walk on the fabric of a hot air balloon.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Carlton says her class keeps learning more and more, as they prepare for their role as this year’s ambassador class.
AUDIO: They are quite the experts on the different parts of the balloon and the science behind how it works. We’ve done what’s called a one-pager, which is just like basically a page of information on whatever topic, so we did it on hot air balloons. We’ve also done our paper mache hot air balloons so far this year. And so hopefully we’ll continue an excellent job of teaching other kids at school about the science and about BOV.
Garfield students listen as balloon pilot Donna Jean Carlton-Vish explains some balloon facts.
This year’s B-O-V, Balloons Over Vermilion, is set for Friday July 8th and Saturday July 9th.
