Story Created:
Oct 6, 2008 at 6:33 PM CST
Story Updated:
Oct 6, 2008 at 6:33 PM CST
(October 6, 2008)
At Tuloso-Midway High School this afternoon, students interested in aerospace engineering got a chance to show what they already know about that field. They were on the baseball field launching experimental rockets.
Tuloso-Midway is only one of a handful of districts in the state to offer an aeroscience class. Students are getting a taste on how to build a rocket. So far, the kids are loving it.
Rockets were flying.At the Tuloso-Midway Sports Complex. No, this wasn't a fireworks show, but part of a high school class called aeroscience. The goal was to construct a rocket that flies straight up in the air. Every student was successful.
"From the calculations that we made, it should have gone straight up," said Elizabeth Lysinger, a Tuloso-Midway High School student. "It did for the most part aside from the wind. So I am really happy I did good today."
The teacher of the class said a couple of weeks ago, the rockets were going all over the place. After some time back in the classroom, students learned how to correct that error.
"We came back and talk about stability and how to build a rocket and how to construct a rocket so it will fly straight and true and you can see they were successful," said Chris Schulz, a Tuloso-Midway High School science teacher.
Students work together to build the rockets and support each other on launch day. It's pretty obvious this is a class they enjoy.
"I have never seen kids get excited about a course," said Schulz. "They show up early and I have to kick them out."
"I think so building these rockets have been really fun," said Joel Reyes, a Tuloso-Midway High School student. "I am learning all the physics, the aerodynamics, centro pressure and all that good stuff. It's really entertaining for me."
For some students, like Marcus Kellogg, this class convinced him to go into the field of aerospace engineering.
"It was the deciding the factor pretty much," said Kellogg. "It gave me the cool feeling of being able to build rockets and how much fun it is."
--Manuel De La Rosa,3 News
Sunday, Oct 12 at 12:55 PM Phil Houseal wrote ...
These students will be attempting a much more ambitious launch in Fredericksburg in April 2009. Come up and watch. Info at www.igniteeducation.org
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