HERMINIE - Casey DiPerna never heard of Nova Scotia before this semester. Toshiana Sommers traveled to Canada two years ago, so she was vaguely familiar with the name.
The second-graders, however, now are learning plenty about the Canadian maritime province. Their interest grew quickly after a red balloon tag washed ashore St. Mary's Bay in the southwestern part of the province was returned to their school. The balloons traveled about 1,000 miles.
The tag was the product of a balloon launch in late October at H.W. Good Elementary School in the Yough School District. The activity was part of Red Ribbon Week, a PTO-sponsored campaign designed to help promote healthy, drug-free lifestyles.
Balloons belonging to Sommers and DiPerna were tied together for the release because DiPerna was absent from school that day.
"I was so excited I began jumping around," said DiPerna describing her reaction when she learned the balloons had traveled so far. "I looked at it on the globe."
The tag was returned by Ruth Boudreau, of Saulnierville, located in the district of Clare. She said it was tangled in seaweed that had washed up on the beach.
Boudreau also wrote about her family and community, and enclosed a map of Nova Scotia and photographs of the area taken at high and low tide.
Sommers also was elated that the balloon pair floated such a long distance.
"Our family went to Canada, so I knew it was real close," said Sommers, who had a general idea of Nova Scotia's geographic location. "It's really nice that we got the right person to find it."
H.W. Good teacher Shawn Kohlhepp said the girls have replied to Boudreau's letter. She said her class is building on the experience by learning to locate areas on the map and calculating distances between geographic points.
Kohlhepp hopes the class will also learn to communicate with Boudreau via the Internet.
"It is really interesting that Toshiana's parents found a balloon tag sent by a fifth-grader in Canton, Ohio, four years ago, and they are still communicating with him," she said.
Kohlhepp said it was the only tag returned from balloons released by her class.
