Kohler High School in Kohler, Wisconsin offers participation in the GLOBE Program as an academic, extra-curricular activity. Through GLOBE, students learn how the atmosphere affects them and their environment and apply these findings to their daily lives. GLOBE Teacher Ms. Jessie Good stated, “GLOBE is a scholarly program in our high school that attracts students who are academically motivated and are interested in global environmental issues.”
Teams of sophomore and junior College Preparatory Biology students collect GLOBE Atmosphere data daily, while junior and senior College Preparatory Chemistry, Advanced Honors Biology AP, and College Preparatory Physics students collect Hydrology data during the fall and spring for a project called “Testing the Waters.” Students participate of their own accord, taking scientific measurements during their lunch break each day and meeting once a week during the lunch hour to enter their measurements into the GLOBE database, in order to “share their research with other GLOBE students all over the world.”
Each year students write an article for the local newspaper explaining the Program and their interest in environmental issues. The students in the “Testing the Waters” program meet with students from other schools to share hydrology data each May at a “Testing the Waters” county forum. This year a student from the “Testing the Waters” team completed storm drain stenciling in the Village of Kohler for his Eagle Scout award.
Participation in daily scientific research brings GLOBE students together as a team, similar to an array of athletic teams formed at Kohler High. The tradition behind the GLOBE t-shirts (pictured above) was initiated when students wanted their GLOBE team to have shirts similar to their sports programs. Each year, a new shirt is designed by the students. In cases where more than one design idea is submitted, students vote to choose their favorite GLOBE t-shirt design for that year.
Kohler School District has been a GLOBE school since the inception of the program in 1995, when the first fifty schools in the United States were selected to join. GLOBE Teacher Ms. Jessie Good stated, “What an exciting time that was when we started GLOBE!” At that time, Ms. Good’s classroom had the only internet connected computer in the school, and the competition for the “GLOBE computer” was often incredibly intense. Over time, technological conditions on campus improved and today the school has 350 internet connected and wireless computers.
Kohler High School students are an inspiration as they use their personal time to employ GLOBE investigations, wearing their shirts as proud members of the GLOBE team. Thank you to all students, teachers, and community members who have assisted in keeping the program alive and thriving in Kohler, Wisconsin, for 16 productive years!
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