CHSD170's STEM Magnet Academy Students Touch the Skies During Their Second Annual Rocket Launch Event

The 8th-grade students of Chicago Heights School District 170’s STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) Magnet Academy conducted their second annual rocket launch at Grant School on Friday, October 13th.

The students, under the direction of STEM Director Nick Pezzuto, and teachers David Fazzini and Safiyah Malvin conducted the event as part of their Project Lead the Way engineering class and launched their 3-D printer-made rockets into a cloudless, blue, sun-lit sky.

Using skills developed in their engineering classes the students worked in teams of two and built the rockets incorporating data that included rocket design, the forces associated with a favorable rocket launch, and various uses of missile technology.

Each rocket was explicitly designed to incorporate a specific unique aerodynamic shape and nose cone. The two months of study preceding the launch involved investigating various rocket designs and included engineering, sketching, and designing plans for the rocket while affording the students a better understanding of the practical applications of missile technology.

As the rockets launched each team of students recorded the success and failures of their effort so they could return to school and make any necessary corrections.

“Events like the rocket launch are vitally important to the educational growth of the students of the STEM Magnet Academy because they show real-life, practical applications of themes they study,” Pezzuto said.

“As educators, nothing is more satisfying than interacting with students and watching them become actively involved in new and exciting areas of study that may be career making,” he concluded.