Launching into freshman year

By amanda tonoli

atonoli@vindy.com

Austintown Middle School eighth-graders launched rockets in the practice field behind the football stadium on May 22. This is a traditional right of passage for eighth grade students in their science classes for a celebration of a successful school year. The rocket launching celebration was led by science teacher Robin Vickers.

“It has been a long standing tradition, even before I started teaching, that the eighth graders finish out the year with building and launching rockets,” Vickers said.

Vickers said students take about a week to design and build their rockets using everyday, household supplies.

“The rockets are made from two 2-liter pop bottles, one small water bottle, cardboard, duct tape and pennies,” Vickers said.

Beyond the design, students learned about the physics of rockets, as well.

“Students learn how to find the center of gravity of their rocket, study forces and motion and determine the best fin design in order to achieve the farthest rocket flight possible,” Vickers said. “Rockets are launched by adding water and compressed air to them.“

The students got to watch the results of their creations, some rockets reaching a much farther distance than others.

“A well-built rocket can exceed the distance of a football field,” Vickers said.

All the eighth-grade science classes got to take part in launching rockets throughout the day during their allotted class times.