Stone Mountain Rotary Nurtures Future Rocket Scientists

The Rotary Club of Stone Mountain calls itself “the friendliest club in the universe” – and now that it has a real rocket scientist among its members, it may be able to support that claim.

Gene Fleeman has worked in aerospace engineering for over fifty years, including twenty years with the U.S. Air Force Flight Dynamics Laboratory and fourteen years with Rockwell. His latest project with the Stone Mountain club is seeking to inspire a new generation of rocket engineers. As part of the schools’ STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) program, Gene and his Rotarian team are visiting local elementary schools, where they teach the students how to build and launch soda straw rockets. The students learn basic skills in physics and math as they compete with each other in a rocket race.