Rain, snow, sleet or hail, Reynolds students are out measuring -- the rain, snow, sleet and hail.

Since 1995, students at Reynolds have participated in Global Learning and Observations to Benefit the Environment.

GLOBE is a worldwide network of students, teachers and scientists working together to study and understand the global environment, according to the GLOBE Web site.

"We gather data here and feed it to a central computer," said Colleen Kelly, biology teacher and director of the GLOBE program at Reynolds.

Reynolds is one of 5,000 schools in 90 countries to collect data for the program, which is sponsored by NASA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the National Science Foundation and the federal Environmental Protection Agency. The program is also in partnership with more than 140 colleges and universities, state and local school systems and nongovernment organizations.

Last month, Reynolds was named to the GLOBE Chief Scientist's Honor Roll for the 66th time.

"The extent and the amount of data reporting is a key measure of GLOBE's success. The data collected and reported by your students and others around the world provide an excellent support for student research projects while supplying scientists with key input for their research," GLOBE Chief Scientist Dixon M. Butler wrote in a letter dated April 12.

Last fall, Jessica Robin, a National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center soil scientist, spoke to Reynolds students and demonstrated a computerized model of soil percolation based on the students' data.

Ms. Robin presented Reynolds data at the annual Soil Science Meeting in Charlotte, N.C., and also plans to present the data in August at the International Soil Science Meeting in Thailand.

Five Reynolds teachers, including Miss Kelly, William Foore, Tom Gay, Kenda Hoovler and Justin Patterson, are trained to conduct the GLOBE program.

The students who work in the program during the last period of the school day measure soil moisture, rainfall and snow, in addition to tracking clouds.

Another group of students ride to the Kidds Mill Covered Bridge once a week to collect readings from the Shenango River.

A box located near the fence surrounding the high school track connects to electrodes that go 10, 30, 60 and 90 centimeters into the ground to read soil moisture at each depth.

Several yards away along the same fence, a rain gauge -- locked in a cage for security -- measures the precipitation.

The students gather all the readings and feed them into the computer in Miss Kelly's classroom. The data then become part of an international database, which is shared with other students and scientists around the world.

"We've been sending data in every day since 1995," Miss Kelly said.

Reynolds students are introduced to the GLOBE program in ninth grade, when they learn how the program works.

Miss Kelly then recruits her students from last period study hall to collect data for GLOBE.

"This is doing something positive, rather than sitting and vegetating in study hall," she said. "If you're interested ... I drag you out and I make you work."

The students are so dedicated they even collect data during Christmas and summer vacations and on weekends. They take turns according to a schedule.

"One girl did it the day of prom," Miss Kelly said. "She went to the prom, came here, then went to the after prom."

Currently six students participate during the last period of the day. Four other students do the river readings, and Miss Kelly has two more volunteers. Some students also use GLOBE as their senior projects.

"They get no (school) credit for this. It's all volunteer work," Miss Kelly said.

In addition to collecting data and feeding it into the computer, the GLOBE students also teach lessons elementary students. Last year they taught them about soil percolation; this year's lesson was latitude and longitude.

"The teachers said they did an excellent job. They must be doing something right," said Miss Kelly.

GLOBE student Margaret Vatter said one benefit of working in the program was learning to speak in public.

"They learn a lot of little things along the way," Miss Kelly said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Erin Remai at eremai@sharon-herald.com.