Pictured (front row, from left) are Josh Adams snd Vincent Peace-Uribe; (second row) Aisha Orilonise, Arten Adylin, I-SS STEM Coordinator Debra Lester, CCTL Teacher and Aviation Club advisor Dana Gibson and Ava Hourihan.
BY KARISSA MILLER
Ava Hourihan, a senior at the Collaborative College for Technology and Leadership (CCTL), recently led her first model rocketry workshop.
Hourihan introduced students to the basics of designing, building, testing and launching a rocket at Lakeshore Middle School.
“This all started when I decided to go to R3 (Rockets, Rovers and Robots) camp when I was about to go into ninth grade. Ever since then I’ve had a love for model rocketry and teaching model rocketry,” she explained.
CCTL also has a rocket team, which Hourihan said has given her a strong foundation for being able to teach rocketry to kids.
“It’s really enjoyable to be able to share all the knowledge I’ve collected from Dr. Lester when she taught R3 and taught us how to build these rockets,” she said.
Debra Lester, STEM coordinator for Iredell-Statesville Schools, along with members of CCTL’s aerospace club, were on hand to walk the younger students through every step of building their model rocket.
Hourihan said that model rockets never fail to captivate a kid’s imagination.
“Learning how to build a basic model rocket makes a kid go, ‘Wow! I’ve got to do this.’ I love it because it creates that spark,” she said.
Hourihan said that she wants to be an astronaut or an engineer. She is currently working on obtaining her pilot’s license and wants to have a solid engineering background where she could possibly work on rockets.
A group of around 22 elementary students across Iredell-Statesville Schools participated in the workshop. Many of the participants said they have participated in the science fair or are interested in STEM careers.
“I like physics. Today, I learned a lot about motor mouths—it is what propels the rocket,” explained Sophia Safley, 10, a Central Elementary student.
Kennedy Bissell, a fifth-grader at Troutman Elementary, said that watching documentaries with her grandfather made her interested in space.
Logan Daykhousky, a fourth-grader at Lakeshore Elementary, said, “I’ve always wanted to experience this kind of stuff. The hard part was the gluing. I hope that my rocket goes at least 75 feet in the air.”
The rockets took around an hour to two hours of building time. Afterwards, the students enjoyed launching their rockets took off into the air.
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