Five high schools in British Columbia, Canada, participated in an atmospheric sciences project during the winter of 2006-07 established by researchers at the University of Calgary. Precipitation gauges and temperature and relative humidity probes were installed at each school and students were asked to collect a water sample each day that precipitation accumulated. These samples were used to trace the evolution of stable water isotopes across southwestern Canada. Researchers visited schools to talk about water resources and climate change, and data were collated and given to teachers to use in an atmospheric science project. The participatory nature of this project gave students exposure to data collection and basic analytical techniques used in atmospheric sciences. This was a first attempt at collaboration between our research group and secondary schools, and we point out a number of issues that arose in our study with respect to a successful two-way engagement between researchers and students. These include school engagement, the geographic distribution of the participating schools, the time span of the project, and the time available to schools. There are also a number of data quality considerations, but we were successful overall in acquiring a unique, high-quality dataset that satisfies our research objectives.