Weather station to be installed at Perk

From measuring wind speed to tracking rainfall, the Perk Campus will soon be part of the National Weather Service’s network of weather-collecting stations. The campus’s arboretum will house several weather-collecting instruments. Its daily records will be sent directly to the NWS and become another part of the curriculum for horticulture students.

This new weather station is being made possible through a $500 grant from the Wiggins Wal-Mart. Horticulture instructor Don Antie says the grant and the partnership with the NWS has taken two years to arrange.

“Since weather is so vital for agriculture, I thought it was a natural addition to our horticulture program and our students. It will also be a benefit to the community. There is an especially large gap in the weather data between Hattiesburg and the Coast. NWS is very excited to have us as a participating location to fill this void in their network,” Antie says.

New funding is in full bloom for Perk’s arboretum this spring- this is the second grant the arboretum has received this semester. International Paper recently contributed an extra $4,500 into its original grant which made the arboretum possible. The arboretum is a diverse garden of plants, trees and landscaping constructed on the north side of Perk in 2003 by campus horticulture students.

“The entire scope of this project has been designed to promote and demonstrate that with proper methods, landscaping, conservation and the environment are not only compatible but complement each other. It’s our desire that this arboretum serve as an ever-evolving outdoor classroom,” Antie says.

For information about visiting the arboretum, contact Antie at ext. 6216, or donald.antie@mgccc.edu.

Earth Day (April 22) took on special importance this year when students and instructors from the Perkinston Campus arboretum received a $500 donation from Wal-Mart to install weather-collecting instruments. From left to right: Ross Simonton, horticulture student; Susan Maddox, horticulture student; Debra Montgomery, Wal-Mart; Robin Funk, Wal-Mart; Don Antie, Horticulture Technology Instructor, Laura Hulsey, horticulture student and John Shows, assistant dean for Career and Technical Instruction.