Shooting for the Stars

by Phil Houseal as published in the Kerrville TX Community Journal April 22, 2009


Calling all future astronauts and rocket scientists. You might get your ticket to outer space by launching your very own rocket right here in Kerrville.

The Shoot for the Stars Rocket Camp is our best-attended summer program. Every year, we offer several four-day workshops where kids ages 8 to 13 get their hands on model rockets. This camp was developed by Brett Williams at Fredericksburg High School, as an offshoot of his nationally-recognized aeroscience course. It is offered throughout the hill country and is taught by Williams' current and former students.

While the camp is great fun, the youngsters cannot get their hands on their rockets until they learn some basics of flight. They must take notes as the instructor introduces them to Newton's Laws, the laws of thermodynamics, and the Bernoulli Principle (any of you grownups want to take a stab at reciting those?). It's tough training, but soon they will see these scientific concepts applied to the real world.

That is the fun part. Under two instructors' guidance, the students soon are selecting body tubes, gluing on fins, and mounting recovery systems. Over the next four days, they determine the center of mass and the center of pressure, then weight the nose cone with BBs to compensate. The final step is adding the engine mount, making their rockets launch-ready.

Launch day is a big event. Families are there, as short kids and tall kids carry tall rockets and short rockets out to the football field behind the Auld Center. All are hand-built with care and pride.

That drilling on laws earlier in the week pays off, as each student must answer a few basic questions on the principles of flight before they are cleared to launch. They then take their rocket to the launch pad and connect the wires that will ignite the engine.

The countdown begins, as the crowd takes up the chant: 3... 2... 1! The young rocketeer punches the launch button.

Every bird goes up. Some ride the plume straight and true, some corkscrew and wobble. More than we like end up in trees or on top of school buildings. The best descend gracefully within the bounds of the football field.

But when you look in the eyes of the young man or woman who has just watched his or her creation ascend to the clouds, there is no doubt this rocket camp has ignited something straight and true.

XXX

Shoot for the Stars Rocket Camp will be held in Kerrville and at Ingram Middle School the week of June 8. Details on these and all other summer programs can be found in the Hill Country Kids catalog being sent home with area students. Information also available online at www.hillcountrykids.com or www.clubed.net, or by calling 895-4386.

Club Ed is the Community Education program of the Kerrville Independent School District. Each year, we offer more than 400 classes throughout the Texas Hill Country, along with online courses, business and individual training, and after-school and summer camps. Comment online at clubedcomments.blogspot.com.