Balloon Launched at Open House Found In Farm Field in Montgomery County

A balloon released Sunday at Pennsylvania College of Technology's Open House 2000 event has been recovered in Whitpain Township, Montgomery County.

The balloon was found Monday morning in a farm field about 10 minutes from Valley Forge National Historic Park, according to Dr. Stanley K. Baczek, assistant professor of Plastics Technology at Penn College.

Lee Miller was working on the property, which is owned by Whitpain Township, at about 10:30 a.m. when he located the balloon, Baczek said. Miller, who works for the township, will be given some Penn College memorabilia containing the logo, "Plastics: The Wave of the Future," for his find.

Students and faculty in the Plastics and Polymer Technology programs at the College released the balloon Sunday afternoon from the campus mall. A television camera attached to the balloon has not been found. A group from the College will visit the site in hopes of finding the camera and antenna. Baczek said the camera may have separated from the balloon during the landing.

A balloon launched from the Penn College campus for Open House 1998 was found in Jenny Jump State Forest in Hope, N.J., about 30 miles east of Delaware Water Gap.

Some other results from Open House 2000 at Penn College:

First place in the Heavy Equipment Rodeo held at the Schneebeli Earth Science Center went to Cayuga-Onondaga BOCES (Board of Cooperative Educational Services), Auburn, N.Y.

The team from Penn College finished second in the competition. Third place went to WE-MO-CO, BOCES2, Spencerport, N.Y.

Matt Hoppes, a student at Lehigh Carbon Community College, won the beginning/amateur competition (three-minute alphabetic timing) in the Third Annual Pro/Am Keyboarding Tournament by typing 98 words per minute with three errors. Chevonne Coran, an Office Technology student at Penn College, won the advanced amateur competition (five-minute alphabetic timing) by typing 88 words per minute with no errors. Leslie Dodge, who is employed by the Lycoming County Assistance Office, won the professional typist competition (five-minute statistical timing) by typing 59 words per minute with three errors.

The winner of the Tech Prep problem-solving contest was Dave Loreman, a Human Services alumnus (1982-84) from Bloomsburg. He received a Penn College sweatshirt.

In the poster contest on environmental problems, Amelia Wehr, Williamsport, won in the 10-12 age group. Michael Niedermyer, Williamsport, won in the 7-9 age group.

Bob Cowdley was the winner of a mountain bike in the Legal Assistant Club raffle. Virginia Sue Santee of Williamsport, a student in the Legal Assistant/Paralegal Studies bachelor's degree program, won a law dictionary.