BY KARISSA MILLER

Fifty rising sixth- through ninth-graders showed off their rocketry prowess and learned about possible STEM career paths during Iredell-Statesville Schools’ Rockets, Rovers and Robots camp this week.

“This camp has got everything. It’s fun to build robots and rockets. You work in groups and you make plenty of friends,” said Colton Ward, a rising seventh-grader.

The keys to being successful when building a rocket are checking things over, learning from your mistakes and never rushing things, Colton said.

According to R3 camp coordinator Debra Lester, the two-week camp is focused on building and launching rockets, programming various robots and having fun with some over-the-top STEM activities.

The camp is in its fourth year. Campers visited the Statesville Regional Airport on Tuesday and built their rockets inside of the hangar and then launched them in a nearby field.

“The safety parameters are different than if we were at CATS (Career Academy and Technical School),” Lester explained. “We have to watch for airplanes and make sure that they aren’t flying over and it’s a little bit harder to recover the rockets because we are in a tall field.”

The camp has many returning students from previous years. As a result, the staff changed up some of the lessons this year, but they also continued with some of the students’ favorites.

Returning camper and rising seventh-grader Catelyn Clark knows the importance of STEM, critical thinking, problem solving, collaboration and even the merits of failure.

“A big part of engineering is knowing that you won’t always get it right the first time you do it,” Clark said. “You just have to keep trying and know that it’s not a failed project. Don’t quit on your first try. I’ve learned that firsthand.”

Catelyn plans to attend the camp each year until she ages out. She hopes to volunteer at the camp when she’s in high school. She plans on becoming a patent lawyer and believes having a good understanding of engineering will be helpful.

Lester said that the camp has been a huge success. One student who attended all four years even went to NASA Space Camp as a result of her experiences.

The camp is part of the Career and Technical Education offerings that enables students to dive into hands-on activities and learn more about career pathways.

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