New Rochelle Students Shoot Rockets, Build 'Bridges' For Science

NEW ROCHELLE, NY — Whether they’re shooting a rocket to skyscraper heights, or building a popsicle-stick bridge strong enough to support the weight of a small adult, the summer scientists in the Young Engineers School program at Albert Leonard Middle School are having a blast. The students aren’t letting the summer pass without spending some time studying flight, structural design, solar power and other aspects of engineering. In all, more than 150 students, who either attend or are about to enter Albert Leonard or Isaac E. Young middle schools, are participating.

“I’m getting a look at how science, math and engineering all tie into each other,” said participant Ameera Kane, who will begin seventh grade at Albert Leonard in September. “I like the way engineers are able to take the things they draw on paper, and make them really come true.” (For more information on this and other neighborhood stories, subscribe to Patch to receive daily newsletters and breaking news alerts.)

In the program, which is a two-week, STEM-based summer science academy, teacher Stephen May assigned the students several tasks. They built rockets, constructed bridges of ice cream sticks and hot glue, created small solar-powered cars and devised Rube Goldberg-style machines to perform the simple task of popping a balloon.

The program was open to any New Rochelle students in the correct grades who have shown an interest in math and science.

“I want to give all the kids every opportunity they can get to do STEM,” May said. The teacher used every opportunity to incorporate math and science. When students shot off rockets, for instance, they used trigonometry to calculate the altitude reached by each missile, taking a measurement with an angle-of-elevation finder, then using the tangent value.

For Darrin Greaves II, who is going into seventh grade at Isaac E. Young, it’s all “a great hands-on experience.”

The most successful rocket fired on a recent day soared 589 feet, almost the height of a 60-story building. When teams built their popsicle-stick bridges several days later, the sturdiest structure held 136 pounds. The world will never know its limits, because the class ran out of two-pound text books to place on the tottering stack that neared the classroom’s metal rafters.

Photo caption: Rocket built by Charlotte Cullom (left) takes off, with teacher Stephen May (center) and others looking on. Photo credit: City School District of New Rochelle.