Science Chase Ends Up in Kissimmee Prairie

Science Chase Ends Up in Kissimmee Prairie
KPP Friends retrieve student's experimental balloon

Chase (center) & friends prepare for the weather balloon release

A GoPro camera and GPS tracker were in the box

"Really into the boonies!"

Deflated helium balloons sometimes end up in the prairie. Preserve staff have a chart on the office wall keeping track of how many balloons each person retrieves. It's a competition of sorts—to rid the Preserve of these potential hazards. But on Sunday, April 17th, Park Services Specialist, Chris Clauson, and three Friends of Kissimmee Prairie Preserve board members and their spouses brought in an entry like no other: A weather balloon carrying a GPS tracker and GoPro camera launched by eighth-grade student, Chase Wiley, and his two friends, Parker and Austin.

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Christina Evans, Tim Kozusko, & Dave Kandz at the retrieval site. Photo by Chris Clauson.

The science balloon project made a very long journey from mid-Pinellas County to its Kissimmee Prairie landing place — as Chase put it, “really into the boonies!” Chase and company followed their balloon to KPP and made a long, hard hike out into the prairie, but could not reach their package.

A week later, ranger Chris Clauson and KPP volunteers came to the rescue. The Preserve swamp buggy took them most of the way, but the remaining distance off the trail had to be slogged on foot through tall grasses and wet marsh. Friends’ board president, Tim Kozusko, a biologist at Kennedy Space Center, was first to reach the payload—in an area with over a foot of water, just a few paces from the GPS coordinates Chase had provided.

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Laura & Tim Kozusko, Park Services Specialist Chris Clauson (with the retrieved package), and Kim and Dave Kandz

Stan Czaplicki returns Chase's project to his mother, Lisa Wiley in Pinellas County.

Chase’s mom, Lisa, answered a call from the Preserve. Cheers could be heard in the background as she relayed the message that the balloon and contents had been recovered. The package was delivered the next day by Friend's board V.P., Christina Evans, and husband, Stan Czaplicki. As luck would have it, they live only three miles from Chase’s home!

Thirteen year-old Chase, who has business cards and a website, goes by the title “Science Dude” or “sciencechase” on his YouTube and Instagram accounts. Watch the video to learn more about Chase's balloon launch experiment and see footage from the air, and then check out some of his other entertaining videos, such as “How Important Is Sleep?”, “The Science of Cussing”, and “The Meaning of Life!”

The Kissimmee Prairie Friends are happy to have played a part in Chase’s latest experiment and look forward to his next project. We hope that he will come back to visit Kissimmee Prairie Preserve again!

Thank you to Chase Wiley's family for use of their photos and video to illustrate this story.

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PLEASE NOTE: While we applaud Chase and his friends for their interesting science experiment using a GPS tracker on a weather balloon, most released helium balloons are not trackable — they are the balloons used to celebrate special occasions. Most people are unaware of these balloons' destructive effects on the environment. They kill countless animals, become ugly litter, cause power outages, waste helium, and pollute remote, pristine places like the oceans — and Kissimmee Prairie Preserve.
Visit BalloonsBlow.org
DON'T LET BALLOONS GO!