Photo by Carrie Pryor-Newman
London Merling, who just finished third grade at Stephen F. Austin Elementary, carefully decorates her rocket at Rocketry Camp at Goose Creek Memorial High School.
Photo by Carrie Pryor-Newman
John David Bloom, incoming third-grader at Victoria Walker Elementary, puts the finishing touches on his rocket, preparing to launch it the next day.
Photo by Carrie Pryor-Newman
Kirk Moore (front), facilitator of Goose Creek CISD’s Rocketry Camp, and campers watch as a student-made rocket is launched on the last day of camp.
Soaring at Rocketry Camp
By: Susan Passmore
The hot June weather didn’t put a damper on the spirits of students launching the rockets they had carefully assembled during Goose Creek CISD’s Rocketry Camp. Squeals of delight and bursts of applause filled the air as the students and their parents watched the rockets, the results of their hard work, soar into the air and, in most cases, land where they could be returned to their owners. Although one student’s rocket made a beeline toward her mother, leaving a hole in the umbrella she was using for shade, everyone stayed safe.
The camp was led by Kirk Moore, engineering facilitator at Anahuac High School, along with his wife Tressa and son Caleb. It was held at Goose Creek Memorial High School, and the rockets were launched on the practice field.
“We encourage kids to do STEM and to think outside the box during the summer using rocketry. We spend the week learning about the physics of flight, using some of the same information NASA uses, to get the students interested in science and math,” said Moore.
Moore’s high school students in Anahuac also assemble rockets, and his second-year students have the opportunity to travel to White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to launch the rockets they create. They order some of the parts, and some are printed on a 3-D printer. The campers in grades 3-5 were intrigued by the large rockets that had been launched by the engineering students, so they were even more determined to work hard on the smaller versions they were creating at camp. Interest in the camp was high, so the four sessions filled up fast. More than 100 students attended.
“I thought it would be really fun. I like rockets and I’ve always wanted to go into space,” said Riley Bloom, who will be in fifth grade at Victoria Walker Elementary in the fall. “My parents and I thought it would be a fun educational experience. I want to be one of the first people on Mars, so I’ve been really excited about this for a long time.
London Merling, just out of third grade at Stephen F. Austin Elementary, decorated her rocket with glitter and voiced her opinion that the girls were outdoing the boys in creating their rockets.
“Boys don’t care about anything. They just slap things together. Girls put a lot into it,” London said.
Hunter Hill, who just finished third grade at Dr. Johnny T. Clark, Jr. Elementary, was excited about the upcoming rocket launch.
“I love rockets, and I’ve always wanted to see one lift off, so now I actually get to do it,” Hunter said.
At the end of the week, students gathered the remnants of their launched rockets to take home, but they also left with knowledge of physics and engineering and, perhaps, an interest in a STEM career.