WEST CHESTER TWP. — Teacher Amy Boucher Castro never imagined that one of the helium-filled balloons her Union Elementary School first-grade class released would find its way to someone from her hometown.

But the note attached to the orange balloon launched last month by 6-year-old Amera Dixon is the only one that has prompted a response from its finder.

Mindy McFann of Gahanna, Ohio, a Columbus suburb, found the balloon while picking up trash at Franklin County's Hoover Dam as a fund-raiser for her son's crewing team.

“That's where I grew up. I went to kindergarten in Gahanna,” Ms. Castro said. “I was amazed, especially since when we launched the balloons they didn't go north, they went south.”

In her letter to the students, Ms. McFann said when she found the balloon, she hoped it would have a note attached.

“You added much fun to my day,” Ms. McFann wrote.

Amera, 6, said she thought her balloon would go to Cleveland, not Columbus, “because it had a lot of air. It went very far and I couldn't see it.”

When the note came to the classroom, 7-year-old Mark Landesman got excited because at first he thought someone had found his balloon.

“I got really jumpy inside,” Mark said. “I was just hoping it was mine.”

Ms. Castro said she would like for the children to correspond with Ms. McFann, possibly by becoming pen pals with her 5-year-old child's class in Gahanna.

“The kids really enjoyed doing this. It makes a great geography lesson. It will make a great letter-writing lesson,” Ms. Castro said.

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