Science teacher emeritus, Vic Clark, returned to Junior High on Wednesday, Sept. 30, to orchestrate a rocket launch at Morrow Stadium, an annual experiment for eighth graders.

 

The compressed air launcher was fabricated from a battery, wire, switch and sprinkler valve. Students later analyzed the data to determine which rockets went further, the longer or short ones, with constant variable being maintained for angle, pressure and location.

 

In preparation for the activity, new science teacher Ashley Woolard consulted her former professor at Southeast Missouri State University in Cape Girardeau, Dr. Floyd Lockhart, who encouraged students in a letter to pursue careers in rocket engineering.

 

"Everything we have ever mined, processed, or gotten out of the earth's crust is something less than 1 percent of the natural resources we have in the solar system... resources we can reach with rocketry as the science has stood for the last 60 years," Lockhart wrote to the class. "This includes the materials for an Industrial Age to make the last one seem like a feeble attempt of kindergartners to draw art."

 

Above: Bryson Morris of the eighth grade launches his rocket under the supervision of retired instructor, Vic Clark.

 

Below: Junior High students observe a rocket being launched through a tube with 80 pounds of air pressure.

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