Wengert Elementary gets a weather station

Students at Wengert Elementary became important pieces to deciphering Las Vegas Valley weather when they dedicated their weather station.

As a Neighborhood Weather Station, the school's readings will be available to weather anchor Kevin Janison when he does his daily forecast on KLAS-TV Channel 8.

Mike Arnau, chief executive officer for NOS Communications, became aware of the school's need for a station when he spoke to Janison, who is on his tennis team, and donated $4,000 to install the small tower and the necessary computer equipment.

"Once he explained to me that the school needed it and what they'd do with it, I knew it was a win-win situation," Arnau said. "Kids are interested in computers, and this is a unique approach. Anything to keep them interested in academics is worth it."

The children will perform hands-on experiments with the station, which helps to enrich the school's science and math focus.

"It really goes across the board, too, because we can bring in math in comparing and bringing in the data," said Freda Blink, elementary computing specialist and an atmospheric education resource agent for the state.

Because climate changes vary depending on the section of the valley, Blink believes having the weather station makes the information more real to the students. With approximately 30 stations in schools across the valley, students can also compare their readings to those in Summerlin and Henderson.

"It just personalizes it more," Blink said. "This is our school, and we can take data specific to our school."

Although many teachers have weather ingrained in their curriculum, Blink makes sure they understand what they're teaching.

With 40 new computers and a newly installed network, the 29-year-old school was ready for a technology change. Because a lot of weather information is available on the Internet, the computers will help the students get even more involved with the atmosphere.

"We're just getting up and running," Blink said. "It's just another help for us."

The school administration is happy at the interest the kids are showing in the station and collecting data. To them, it's already served its purpose.

Principal Karen Smallwood summed up the thoughts of the children when she said: "Just to think we'll be on TV every day."