Middle-schoolers get ready to blast off
This story appeared in the Antelope Valley Press, Thursday, May 15, 2008.
By ALLISON GATLIN Valley Press Staff Writer
MOJAVE - Preparations are under way across Mojave Unified School District as students prepare their model rockets for launch Friday during the Intermediate Space Challenge at the Mojave Air and Space Port.
The challenge pits classroom teams of fourth-, fifth- and sixth-grade students from California City and Mojave schools in a competition to build and launch model rockets, as well as answer essay questions, create banners and line up sponsors.
The launches will begin at 10 a.m. on Taxiway B at the airport, near the site of SpaceShipOne's successful spaceflights four years ago.
The student teams have been mentored by Mojave High School Aerospace/Engineering Academy members.
In addition to seeing their creations launched to the sky, the students will hear from record-setting aviator Dick Rutan and SpaceShipOne astronaut Brian Binnie.
The competition, now in its fourth year, is intended as a means for inspiring young students to pursue math, science and engineering education.
"We need the builders, the designers and the inventors of the world," said Marie Walker, challenge founder and a director of the East Kern Airport District, which governs the airport.
The challenge captures students at an age where they are open to new ideas, "at an age when they are impressionable, but not so interested in what others think," she said.
Educators interested in math, science, engineering and such programs are invited to attend to learn about starting such competitions in other schools.
Walker has plans to spread the program to other schools, and is in the process of creating the curriculum necessary to provide others with the tools for conducting their own competitions.
The program's success in Mojave has shown it is possible to make it work on a shoestring budget, she said, and the free curriculum will provide teachers with an off-the-shelf product ready for use.
The program and the effort to share the concept with other schools is funded largely through sponsorships.
"We know our schools are in trouble. With budget cuts and everything, our schools are suffering," Walker said. "If we in industry don't get involved and help, then all we're going to do is sit around and point fingers."
As the program curriculum is developed, Walker hopes to see it expand to other technologies such as alternative energy and medical fields, in addition to aerospace.