The fields at Vaughn Elementary School were covered late last month with fourth- and fifth-grade would-be-astronauts. Each had a rocket in hand and waited for their opportunity to have it placed on the launch pad and fired into “space.”
The rockets were created by students under the direction of teachers Jodi Kimizuka, Doug Smith, Kathleen Smith, Anne Puckett and Carolyn Russell. It’s an annual event.
Forty-one fifth-graders launched “Big Berthas” and 64 fourth-graders launched “Alpha” rockets.
I’d be more likely to miss a vacation in Paris than miss this exciting event. Really!
Smith, the founding father of the event, wrote, “(student) Kaila Edwards wants you to know that, ‘Launching rockets was the best thing I did this year at school, and I had so much time making them. It was so much fun.’ ”
Mason Alexandre and Christian Catterall wanted me to know that the Alpha rockets go fast, “between 600 to 700 mph.”
This is true. In past years, a Pierce County Sheriff’s deputy was on hand with a radar gun to clock the missiles, but his gun could only clock the “Big Berthas,” which are relatively slow — about 100 mph.
The Alphas were much too fast.
Not once in the years I’ve covered this event have I been able to follow an Alpha in flight.
“You need to know that rockets are awesome, exciting and fast,” Austyn Thompson said.
Evan Collins added, “The best thing about rockets is launching them and building them slowly through each step.”
Kim Heaven learned that “gasses go the opposite way from the rockets because that’s how rockets move; gasses push one way and rockets push the other way.”
Emmy Krist agreed: “Rockets use equal and opposite reactions, which means gases go one way and the rocket goes the other.”
Brennen Ebert added, “It’s hard to catch a rocket, because it goes side to side. Sometimes you catch your friend’s, and you fall.”
“You must pay close attention so you do not lose your parachute or rocket,” Skylar Medley said. “Pay attention, or else.”
Tabitha Bode liked catching her rocket.
“You have to be fast before it hits the ground,” she said.
“I ran slowly to my rocket and I caught it,” Zack Martin said. “It smelled like a whole lot of fireworks went off.”
Jade Bautista’s favorite part was painting and writing poems.
“When you paint (rockets), you can express yourself,” Tamara Erickson said.
“I painted Cheetah spots on mine,” Leanne Erickson said. “Try not to paint the nose cone and body tube together, and don’t paint inside the launch lug.”
“Make sure the nose cone is loose,” Juliann Dorny said. “If it isn’t, the parachute can’t come out and float slowly down, and the rocket will explode.”
Wesley Haines learned that rockets were used for war and turned into missiles.
Dominic Guiterrez learned that the first Chinese rockets were made for war and colorful fireworks.
“The building process took about four days, putting together fins, nose cone, shock cord, painting, parachute and engine,” Kyle Kashuba explained.
Tay Vadi learned that the parachute can melt because the engine gets very hot.
“The reason we do the rocket launch is because it is easier to write about something you’ve done,” Mynuette Boyd said. “We wrote poems, a story and an article about rockets.”
“This is the best thing in the school year,” Bradley Klamp said. “The sight of it flying so high was really cool.”
Isabel Forsell learned to be more descriptive so she could include it in her next paper.
“All of the awesome rockets were very creative, and they all flew wonderfully,” Forsell said.
To cap it off, Madison Martinez said directions are the most important thing you need.
“If you don’t listen, you don’t know what to do. And if you don’t know what to do, you don’t know how to build one at home,” Martinez said. “Anybody can make this mistake. You just have to listen.”
Now, if we could just apply that lesson to all of life ...
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