4-Hers Launch Into STEM at the Maryland 4-H
Aerospace Challenge
By Heather Gernsey
The Maryland
4-H Aerospace program blasted off its eighth year at the Howard County
Fairgrounds on July 22, 2018. Eighteen Maryland 4-Hers competed in the
Challenge after qualifying at the Aerospace Qualifiers, open to any 4-Hers age
8-18.
Many
contestants had also participated in the Aerospace Workshop, on July 15. At the
workshop, Juniors learned the basics of
aerospace and how to build a rocket while Intermediates & Seniors learned
about electronic payloads. Everyone learned about craftsmanship, and identified
rocket parts. Juniors built the BMS School Rocket with help from Mrs. Dobos,
Mr. & Mrs. O’Hanlon, I. Syed, H. Syed & S. Biswas. Intermediates built
the Estes Baby Bertha Rocket with assistance from Mr. Dobos, Mr. Lempicki, K.
Huang and R. Biswas. Seniors built the Quest Big Betty under the direction of
Mr. Schepis, J. Schepis, E. Sparkman & J. Jones. The best part was
launching the rockets out in the field. We watched how high they went and then
went out to recover them.
At the
Aerospace Challenge, we started with the build session. Juniors built a Quest
Payloader One, Intermediates built a Quest Courier and Seniors built an Estes
Ladstar II rocket. Afterwards, participants took a rocket parts identification
test and a general aerospace history & knowledge test, including things
like Newton’s Laws, & forces of flight.
The best
part of the Challenge was the launch. The Juniors launched their Payloader One
rockets with a live cricket inside. Intermediates launched their Quest Courier
rockets with a raw egg inside. You got points if your egg stayed intact after
the flight. Seniors launched their Loadstar II rockets with an altimeter to
measure how high it flew. The final highlight was when Mr. Dobos launched one
of his high-powered rockets–it went so high, you could barely see it!
It was a
great opportunity to meet and work with other 4-Hers around the state with
similar interests in rocketry. I have been attending this Aerospace Challenge
for eight years since it first started, and this year was particularly awesome
for me. I was proud to have been
selected with Aaban Syed as the top two individual scoring seniors, which
earned us each Arduino controllers and an opportunity to compete in the 2019
Aerospace Challenge for a trip to Purdue University in 2019. I also won with Sam Jones, the second prize
for the Senior Team!
Congratulations
go to all the winners, and thank you to
the Aerospace team for the Arduino gift and for making my past 8 years in
aerospace so much fun! A very special thank you to our coordinators &
volunteers of the Aerospace Workshop and Challenge – you truly make the
difference!
