Southside’s Rocketry Club Held Mini Rocket Launch

Seventh- and eighth-grade students from Southside Academy Charter School recently launched a mini rocket at the school. The school’s first Rocketry Club is fueling up their rocket knowledge for a state-wide rocket challenge taking place in June.

The club is focused on STEM-learning, aimed at building student excitement about technology-driven curriculum by concentrating on hands-on learning.

“The Southside rocketeers use applied science daily to incorporate components of STEM-learning, which is a big emphasis of the club,” said Dr. Jeff White, principal at Southside Academy. “The scholars experience variations among different rockets and they can experiment, build different tests, and see cause and effect.”

The mini rocket launch is setting an advanced learning trajectory for students as they prepare for the rocket challenge later this spring. Southside’s Rocketry Club will compete in the 17th annual Central New York Rocket Team Challenge at the Milton J. Rubenstein Museum of Science & Technology (MOST) on Saturday, June 1 at Syracuse University’s Skytop field.

The competition will require students to build and detail a rocket and bring them to the Skytop for launch. Teams will be judged on the quality of their overall construction, knowledge of their subject, how well they estimated their trajectory, and whether their “eggstronaut” survived its ride into the sky.

Good luck next month, scholars – the sky is the limit!