Cosmic Journey

Jordan Middle School students got a chance to explore the final frontier from the safety of the gym last week. The school hosted the Minnesota Planetarium Exloradome portable planetarium. The program – housed in an inflatable dome in which students laid on the floor and gazed at projected video on the ceiling – allowed students to visit almost anywhere they wanted within our solar system. They also had a chance to see most of the known universe when the projected video brought them outside the solar system and outside the Milky Way galaxy.

If you have never been to Jordan, the waterfall in Lagoon Park is a must see.

Take Highway 21 or 169 to Highway 282, turn south on Varner Street, go a dozen blocks or so. Turn onto Park Drive, near the cannon and flagpoles to enter Lagoon Park. The waterfall is about three blocks into the park on the left.

Here's a look:

On a kayaking trip from Helena Township, through Sand Creek Township, into Jordan on Sand Creek, a few guys found out that with a little ingenuity, you can surf the local creek. These guys are lucky to have not broken their necks, they said.

They also said it's easier than it looks.

Scott County Association for Leadership and Efficiency's regional public safety training facility opened this month. The 53rd Civil Support Team, a formation of the Indiana Army National Guard, was one of the first groups to use the burn tower for firefighter training.

See them work:

Yesterday (Wednesday), students from Jordan High School helped two Minnesota Department of Natural Resources fisheries specialists transplant bluegill, bass, and crappie from Pelican Lake in Wright County into the Mill Pond in Lagoon Park. Garrett Prochaska is the student featured at the end of the video clip.

Jordan High School students had a chance to try out a new product called the Wave on Wednesday.

The Wave is like a skate board, but with only two wheels. And the wheels spin all the way around. If that sounds hard or confusing, that’s because it kind of is. Will Stoltz of Street Surfing, the company that produces the Wave and brought it to JHS, explained how the boards work:

The wedding of Brandon Otte of Jordan and Molly Engstrom of Woodbury is scheduled for Aug. 9.

"I'm working very hard, clearly, on my wedding planning, doing most of the work, really," Otte says with sarcasm in his voice and a smile on his face. "Molly isn't isn't doing a whole lot, not carrying her weight."

See and hear Otte in his vlog from yesterday:

When a pipe burst earlier this year in the ceiling of St. John the Baptist Catholic School, it was a blessing in disguise for one student.

Jake Klegstad used the problem as the base question for his entry in the school’s science fair – which kinds of pipes best hold up to frozen water?

The answer, Klegstad said, is that the more flexible the piping, the more likely it is to withstand the pressures of freezing water from within. On Monday, he shared his results and – more importantly – the steps he took to get there.

Pretty much all of the ice is out of Sand Creek, where Jordan's waterfall freely flows alongside Lagoon Park. Each of these videos was filmed yesterday. Take a look:

While the Jordan Independent was broadcasting live from their booth at Celebrate Jordan, a lot of other exciting things were happening at Jordan’s annual business fair.

Bauer Dance and Gymnastics dancers performed in the commons area during the festivities: