Immaculate Conception School’s rocket club prepares for big launch

“5 … 4 … 3 … 2 … 1!” With a push of a button, an Estes Alpha Sport Rocket is launched into the East Aurora sky. 

Students from Immaculate Conception School’s Rocket Club met at Hamlin Park on Oct. 16 to test out their designs in preparation for the American Rocketry Challenge. The middle school students have used the after-school club to learn how to build the footlong projectiles, and about the physics that goes into a successful launch.

The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocket contest with nearly 5,000 students nationwide competing each year. The competition gives middle and high school students the opportunity to design, build and launch model rockets and hands-on experience solving engineering problems. Moog scientists volunteer with Immaculate Conception to prepare the students for their big launch on Oct. 26.

Students have to hit an exact altitude – this year 790 feet – while carrying two eggs, and then land within a three second window without breaking its payload.

“It’s a very precision oriented contest that’s very challenging,” said Ira Johnson, engineer for Moog Inc. “Moog supports this because we have seen it teaches the kids a lot about all the things they need to know to work in the (aeronautics) field. In addition to the technical side, we’ve had other students point out that they had to learn a lot about teamwork and program management and setting up a schedule. All that comes into play.”

Eight former Immaculate Conception students who took part in the contest in past years now work at Moog, seven of whom are working on equipment that will go to the moon.

“We’re seeing that this is a great training path to bring kids into the field,” said Johnson.

The Rocket Club can be educational even for students not interested in interstellar exploration.

 “It’s got science, it’s got math, it’s got technology and engineering,” explained Gerald Zeis, science and math teacher at Immaculate Conception. “I’m an engineer by education. They are learning all the aspects of it outside the classroom and they’re having fun learning it. That’s the main way to learn and have it stick. No one wants to sit in a classroom and hear me speak for an hour when they can be outside, learning hands-on how to do all these things.”

For Douglas Crewson, one of the students taking part in the contest, rockets are just fun.

“I think a lot of this stuff is cool to learn about. I have always been drawn to the sciences,” he said. “There’s a lot of fun about it. I think my favorite part about it is that it is a hangout time. It is time outside of school where I would be getting to see friends when I normally wouldn’t be.”