Students used their newfound skills to build a rocket and explained in a writing assignment how all of the components that they had studied during the year connected to rockets. The culmination was a day of launching the rockets.

“I love seeing my students get so excited to launch the rockets that they built,” said Anna Phillips, eighth grade science teacher on Alpha Company.

Younger students from Hand in Hand and TCMS came out to watch as the drama of Rocket Day unfolded. Some rockets were launched and recovered successfully while others were tragically lost as they entered the low clouds that covered the sky and never reappeared.

Whitney Robertson, counselor at Hand-In-Hand, accompanied the primary school's students to Rocket Day.

Robertson said, "The kids had such a fun and exciting time. They were able to see the rockets blast off into "space,"which is something that is usually reserved for television. This is something that links together what our students have learned: space, planets, satellites, and astronauts, and makes it more understandable and tactile. The students loved being chosen to help the rockets lift off, and their favorite rockets are always the ones that make the most noise!"

Megan Palmer, the Family & Consumer Sciences teacher at TCMS, joined her young son outside for the activities.

“For the past two years, our son has looked forward to Rocket Day for months.  He loves getting to watch the big kids launch their rockets. This year, two of our children had the opportunity to countdown and launch their own rockets with the eighth-graders, and it is an experience we'll hear about for a year,” Palmer said.