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Aucilla Christian Academy jumped at the opportunity to host Jefferson County’s first WeatherSTEM station on their campus. The installation was completed this past week. WeatherSTEM gives educators access to many activities and lessons that support science, technology, engineering and mathematics, in addition to providing the current weather information in the county, including the forecast for the week. “I will use the recorded data from our own ACA WeatherSTEM unit to show correlations between scientific data and mathematical concepts that are taught in our elementary school,” said Jennifer Falk, a 4th and 5th grade teacher at ACA. “We can identify clouds through the Sky Video recordings, find the mean, mode, median and range of data of rainfall, make critical assessments of daily weather to make predictions for upcoming weather, learn to read weather maps, acquire a better understanding of tides and discuss changes in climate. The potential for learning and making connections to our community is boundless…one might say that the sky’s the limit!” Michele Tharpe, an ACA secondary science teacher, is ecstatic about having the WeatherSTEM on campus. “Not only is it a wonderful educational tool,” said Tharpe, “it’s something everyone can use, in most every county in Florida. I love how it brings our communities together and tells us what the weather is like in other areas before we travel.” ACA Principal Richard Finlayson particularly likes both the educational and student safety aspects the device provides. “From a safety standpoint, it’s invaluable,” said Finlayson. “The WeatherSTEM will tell us how close lighting strikes are and will send information directly to our athletic director’s email. This will further help us safeguard our students and our visitors, particularly when they are playing or attending athletic events outdoors.” Visit the WeatherSTEM website for more information at Jefferson.weatherstem.com/aca. For live weather information, call (850) 999-5751 or text “aca.”