Rocket class at Athol public library

I had a nice opportunity to introduce rocketry to a large (30+) group of people ranging in age 8-40 at the Athol, MA public libarary last night.

They are having a winter long program based on the subject of "The Rocket Boys". There is a book reading, video screening and other rocket/space related topics.

I was out there about 5 weeks ago and did a 90 min presentation on the history of rockets, from their use against the mongols in 1032 up to present day.

Last night we did part 2 of my program and built Triskelion kits. In April we will go out and launch them at the high school.

It was a great class and having some older kids there to help the younger ones let the class go very smoothly.

I also had the opportunity to meet a Senator Stephen Brewer of Mass as he was one of the volunteers doing the book reading. He had heard about the rocket build session and wanted to come by and check it out.

all in all, a great evening of rockets with more to come. When I get back home this afternoon I will post a couple of pix from the class.

jim

Here are a couple of pix from the class. I hope to have several in from the library and will post them in an album later on.

here are a couple of boys nearly complete:

Here's another group with mom's, dad's and their kids

Way to go Jim !

Maybe you'll have an insider in our fight to keep rocketry as a solid and informative hobby. 8)

Cheers and thanks for sharing.

Yep, that's my feeling. WHen I was talking to him I commented on the educational benifit and he commented "well, it isn't math, but it does teach them dicipline"... I didn't have a lot of time, but explained that rocketry is easily integrated into the standard course lesson for teaching math and science.

I followed that up with a letter to him providing more details and offered to meet with him to discuss if he is interested. Since he is reading the Rocket Boys for the Library, I beleive he may very well *be* interested in such a discussion, so we will see.

jim