Middle school kids learn from simulated hurricane

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - Middle school students from Omni Middle School in Boca Raton are learning about the way Palm Beach County deals with natural disasters and other emergencies.

Not just by watching, but by doing.

The program, called StormZone is offered to Palm Beach County middle school students once a year.

The director of that program, Bay Proby says, "The mission of StormZone is to provide information about hurricanes, not only in terms of preparedness but also the science of hurricanes as well."

It's a more hands-on experience that definitely gets the kids thinking about what adults are doing in an emergency.

Proby says, "Emergency management is one of those things where a lot of people don't know what's going on when there's a major event like a hurricane, so we felt like it was important for these students to have this opportunity to find out what the adults actually do when a hurricane or some other kind of crisis like this occurs."

One of the first lessons? Time is of the essence.

Collin Kosuch is an 8th grader at Omni Middle School and says, "If there's human life, like a fire or tornado, every second counts when you're talking about human life."

Although the kids are learning about a lot of serious subjects, they're also having a lot of fun.

Another student, Tess Sangree says, "It was a lot of fun working here and learning this because I got to experience what they, the people who actually work here, what they do in an actual emergency."

An out-of-the classroom lesson that's giving the youngsters real food for thought.

Sangree says, "I think it would be really cool to work here. It's opened up another idea of what I may want to do in the future because I find this interesting."