Kids are Great!

by Larry Jacobs

As you know I don't post a lot on this information highway but thought some of you would find this of interest.

My daughter Erica is attending a summer sleep away camp owned by my sister and brother in law in Pennsylvania. This concept of a full summer sleep away camp is very popular on the east coast.

Knowing that I'm very involved in this hobby of "rocketry", they asked if I would be interested in implementing a rocketry program for their campers when I came to visit Erica on a scheduled vacation that I had planned. Of course this was very intriguing to me and I promised to provide the kids with a "way cool" rocketry experience.

I was busy at work building a make shift launch pad that consisted of a 2x4 plank with eight 1/8 inch launch rods assembled to it. I packed my launch equipment "Old pad Larry" ( the one prior to my new and improved one) and packed two of my own rockets... a Strong Arm Aerotech kit and a scratch built "Spiro Gyro" that many of you have seen me fly on a G-40 for a slow and majestic flight.

This and lots of "G" motors were sent in advance to the camp in July.

I then ordered enough Estes Kits from a local distributor in N.Y. that caters to this kind of project. They were very helpful in guiding me through the selection process. I ordered 125 rocket kits of varying skill levels depending on the specific age groups so that each camper both boys and girls could build and fly their own rockets. I also ordered enough bulk pack motors (B's and C's to accomplish this).

So, on July 31st Sat. through Aug. 2nd Monday. I rotated 125 campers through the art's and craft's dept.. to build their rockets. What a thrill it was to see these youngsters ages 8 to 14 craft their own projects knowing that they would actually get to fly them when ready! Some of them had some experience in this hobby. Some never even knew that this hobby existed. ALL had a great time in the process including yours truly!

When all rockets were built, we( in groups of approx..10) rotated them through the launch procedure. These kids were than poised for the launch. 5-4-3-2-1-blast off...one at a time. They were totally "jazzed" when they saw there own rockets launch off the pad and actually fly. I am happy to report that the success rate of ejection and deployment was at least 95%! (much better than my record!!!) The chutes actually opened up and the kids went wild. There were some "lawn darts" ...one even stuck in the roof of one of their bunks. That I think caused the most excitement of the whole day! To this day it is still stuck in the roof. I think it will be a shrine for campers of years to come for them to view. After each group flew their rocket their next activity was to find them. This proved to be another fun activity as they witnessed several of their rocket in trees and on roof tops etc... This "scavenger hunt" added to the whole experience.

On Monday, after all campers flew their rockets, I had the whole camp assemble for the Grand Finale. I flew the Strong Arm first on a G-40. It had to have gone approx.. 3000 ft. After a perfect deployment, It drifted forever and landed in "Rocket Heaven" never again to be seen.( I expected that). Than Spiro- Gyro was launched also on a G-40. This rocket is a 3.9 and 5 ft. tall. A slow and majestic lift off alt.approx.. 1500 feet. The crowds went wild They all chased this one down! Did you ever see 125 kids chase after a rocket? Well I did!!! What a sight. This one I brought back home.

The whole experience was a very fulfilling one for each child as well for myself and my daughter. Erica was my assistant through out this whole process. She was L.C.O. and R.S.O. under my supervision of course. She is now fondly referred as "Rocket Girl" and I'm now referred to as "Rocket Man" at the camp. There was a news letter that went out to all parents of the campers and among other news worthy things, their was a mention that "Rocket man" from California. visited the camp and provided this experience to their children. I am told that several parents have already commented to camp officials that in phone calls made by campers to their parents news of this experience was reported in a very favorably light.

I spoke about our club (R.O.C.) and described our activities to those children that showed greater interest. By the way, there was a fair amount of children that wanted to know more. I felt real good about that.

Here are some observations made by me during this process:

• Every camper had at least some level of interest in this project.
• There were as many girls as boys that were very interested in this hobby.
• Boys tended to build their projects faster and with less care to details.
• Girls seemed to pay more attention to details and built better performing rockets.
• Boys were more interested in flying the rockets than constructing them.
• The interest level of girls were every bit as high as the boys. (I found this to be very surprising)
• There will be approx.. 15% of these children from feed back that I have gotten that will pursue this hobby to greater levels.

ALL had a great time. I gave out our web site address to those that showed interest and gave them my e-mail address. If they write me I will locate various clubs in their neighborhoods.

Thanks for reading this. It was another positive chapter in our wonderful Hobby.

Sincerely Larry "Bubba" Jacobs A.K.A. PAD LARRY