It is the question of the day, every year. Phil Houseal interviews many of us every rocket season on live feed and asks, “So, you take vacation time every year and keep coming back to help with the program, why do you do this?”
That is a question with a many fold answer. Some volunteers started in this as friends of Mr. Brett Williams that answered the call for help, became addicted to the fun and all the program was accomplishing, and just kept coming back to help. Others, like my husband, me and several others have had our own kids as well as family members travel through the program and go on to wonderful careers in and out of the STEM fields. Our times here started with our family members’ involvement, and we have chosen to stay in support of the program, acknowledging all it provides these students. We stay to be sure that the program lives on giving others these opportunities.
That is the big answer, but it is the behind the scenes answer that is really the drawing card. This program changes lives. It engages students that might not have found interest any other way. It shows them all they really can do, and that they can do it.
A lot of the students are already on a good path to success and it bolsters that path. But some may be on the verge of giving up, hating school, many may be already thinking, “why do I need any of this?”
There are students that don’t even realize they have needed skills to pull a project like a rocket off and see it to fruition. You hear it all the time, “I’m not an engineer, or I’m not that good at math and science, or I’m not into all that technology stuff!”
Well the truth is, you have a phone, guess what you are using technology and probably understand more about it than your teacher. Math, you use basic math every day when you use money. Applied, higher math can be learned along the way. Science, well in a basic sense every time you cook a meal, build something, create anything you are using a form of science. Every seen the movie, “Ice Princess?” She used science to figure out how to complete a skating jump. Have you ever packed a vehicle or say high school band trailer with equipment, and figured out how to make it all fit? That is a form of spatial engineering. My point is we really do use this stuff every day at least in a basic form.
The other side to this coin is the program needs every kind of thinker and craftsman to create that rocket. If you can weld, you are in. How do you think they put these parts together? So you like working on engines, a rocket has a motor and fuel. You like power tools and wood working. There is wood and other building materials in that rocket that need to be figured, designed, cut and placed. That science stuff just isn’t for you, because you are into business management, and want to have a store, restaurant, etc. You will need to know how to run a business, create proposals, order merchandise, create bids, keep inventory, budget needs, research necessities, communicate with customers and other business associates. Once again, it is all here and more…………..
So, then why do we keep coming back? Simply put, because we have seen this program work. We have seen the future output from students that participated in it. And every year we see that in every rocket class from every school that moves through these launches.
Even the students that are not as fully vested as they should be feel and show the joy of accomplishment and start to follow a path that takes them to a better future. When they launch that rocket and realize what they have accomplished the looks on their faces and the excitement is palpable. Whether that vehicle flies 5000′ or 50′ and comes back all intact or in 1000 pieces, they are over joyed to have it back to analyze. They finally realize they CAN do it! The smiles and excitement is more than worth the time we put in as volunteers.
Of course, the best reasons are the personal stories from parents, teachers and students alike. These are the success stories of students that were being lost to the system. There are students who we seen there every year, that by the time we see them, probably seem like every other enthusiastic rocket class student excitedly waiting for their launch. But they have a back story only they, their parents and teachers may know. They were sick of school, ready to quit, bored, probably thought that all this learning was for anyone but them.
Then, somehow, some way, they were introduced to and inducted into the rocket program. Now after some time and before they even realize it they have a purpose and everything in their lives has changed.
They change from “Mom let me quit school, to Mom, we are going to be late I have to get to class so I can work on my rocket!” Instead of I don’t fit in there, it’s I know how to help with that, let me show you.
They change from being alone to being part of a small team that is part of a bigger team that is creating a masterpiece all their own. And best of all is everything that they are learning right now and carrying on from here with them that they haven’t even realized yet.
This program really changes lives. It creates not only the hope for a fantastic future, but a yearning to reach that future, whatever the path may be.
SystemsGo Program Director, Rebekah Hyatt, recently referred to it as the Deeper Side of Rockets, after receiving a glowing endorsement from the parent of a student that changed the course of his life after being introduced to the rocket class. As Rebekah put it, “Changing the trajectory of kid!”
So there, Phil Houseal, there is why we all do it!
First and foremost for ourselves and all the comradery and fun we receive from it. We absolutely love being involved in the program however we can. I have said for years, that I want to make a shirt that reads, “I am Addicted to Rockets, There is no Cure, but I am in RECOVERY!
But most importantly, as teachers, parents, and a countless number of volunteers, we do it so that every student that comes in contact with the SystemsGo Rocket Program, in one way or another might continue to have the chance to grab the opportunity before them with enthusiasm and ride it into a glorious future on the fins of a rocket!
On the Wings of Angels 