By Tina Fisher Cunningham
The Forde Files No 71
The kids love rocket science
Shedding light on local issues
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Nick Smirnoff, NPAA
Overall event winners the Boss Rockets, Ms. Terri Coward's fifth grade class at Tompkins Elementary School, cheer after receiving the trophy at the 2014 Intermediate Space Challenge, May 21 at Tehachapi Municipal Airport
Tehachapi students compete for Space Challenge top honors
For two hours on the morning of May 21, the cheers at Tehachapi Municipal Airport were deafening as Tehachapi Unified School District fourth and fifth grade students from all three elementary schools – pressed against a barrier fence a safe distance from the launch pads – urged their home-made rockets upward toward the drifting clouds.
It was the annual Intermediate Space Challenge, organized by the Arts, Science and Technology Committee of Tehachapi, led by Nick Altieri and Joel Beckmann, event founder Marie Walker, their committee, volunteers and sponsors. Occasionally Airport Manager Tom Glasgow, seated in a vehicle by the runway, called a pause to the launching as an airplane or helicopter came in to land. The fired-up kids cheered those too.
The event includes essay writing, creating artistic banners, building a rocket in the classroom with the help of THEMA students and launching the rockets.
The two highest altitudes attained were 575 feet and 526 feet.
Ms. Terri Coward's fifth grade class at Tompkins won the event, receiving the overall trophy. They called their team the Boss Rockets.
Fourth Grade First Place – Mr. Thiesse's Sky Flyers
Nick Smirnoff, NPAA
A rocket takes off as 600 Fourth and Fifth graders watch
Fifth Grade First Place – Ms. Coward's Boss Rockets.
Other results:
Best Essay – Fourth grade, Ms. Bowman's Flying Tigers; Fifth grade – Mr. Lee's Gravitational Warriors
Best Banner – Fourth grade, Ms. Bernacchi's Sonic Boom; Fifth grade, Mr. Wood's Asteroid Busters.
Best Rocket Design – Fourth grade, Ms. Smith's Zombies; Fifth grade, Ms. Coward's Boss Rockets.
Most Spirit – Fourth grade – Ms. Robinson's Flaming Bananas; Fifth grade, Mr. Lee's Gravitational Warriors.
Highest Rocket Altitude – Fourth grade, Mr. Parrott's Teenage Mutant Ninja Parrotts; Fifth grade, Ms. Henderson's Titanium Tigers.
Educational outreach to students in the fields of engineering and science
Nick Smirnoff, NPAA
Rocket fuel engineer Kriss Vander Hyde of the Air Force Research Lab at Edwards Air Force Base, volunteers for the Space Challenge organized by the Arts, Science and Technology Committee of Tehachapi
Rocket engineer and event volunteer Kriss Vander Hyde of the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) at Edwards Air Force Base, conducts educational outreach to students in the fields of engineering and science.
In the Antelope Valley and Tehachapi areas, he said, “interest in engineering and science has increased ten times in the last ten years.” He credits science academies and programs like the Space Challenge for sparking the student interest.
Vander Hyde said his mission with the AFRL is to develop an alternative to the RD 180 rocket, which the United States buys from Russia to propel the Atlas and Delta space launch vehicles.
