Tag: Electronics

What’s All This About Rockets: Success Stories-Anissa Kneese

Welcome back to Rocket Success stories. This is the second installment of this series of Interview style articles, in which we meet individuals that studied under the SystemsGo STEM program and have gone on to build their futures on the skills it teaches. Last month we met, Robert Deaver, a 1996 graduate of the program.  This month we are looking at a young lady that is a more recent graduate also from Fredericksburg High School in 2014, miss Anissa Kneese.

Anissa is currently a college student at Texas A&M, which allows us to talk with her now and to check back with her and see exactly where her education and career choices have taken her in the future. This is in a way, the middle of her path, but the drive she has to complete her engineering goals are a direct correlation of her experience in the program.

“Before taking the rocket program classes in high school, I had no idea I was interested in engineering, I learned about the many different engineering paths. and I fell in love with problem solving. I am now working toward my degree in Mechanical Engineering thanks to SystemsGo.”

Anissa joined the STEM program out of curiosity her freshman year, because of all she had heard about it from friends and family. She quickly realized that this class would shape her future.

“After completing the first class freshman year, I was considering majoring in engineering in college. Sophomore year pushed me even more in that direction, and after junior year there was no doubt what so ever this was my future career path. Senior year was the icing on the cake!”

As she studied in the program, her reasons changed from curiosity to excitement and the class became a priority for her.

“By junior year I was so eager to go to class every day. I knew I would learn something new or something really eventful and exciting would happen. Like running a successful student designed test that caused a nearby resident to call the fire department!” Engine and fuel burn  tests can be loud and though most  folks have become accustomed to these tests, this one was particularly loud, and caused a stir, something she recalls with guarded humor.

Anissa participated on two teams. The first was the Mechanical team for static hybrid propulsion testing, and then the injector team for the Redbird #15 Rocket, as long as helping with electronics, payload and engine installation.  Her specific jobs on these projects included, “For propulsion and testing I prepped fuel grains by ensuring their size was exact, installing them in the test cell, and preparing the test cell by sealing the cell to prevent oxidizer leakage. After each test I would clean the test cell and prep the next fuel grain. I also set up oxidizer tanks and plumbing from the tanks to the test cell. During tests, I would make sure all solid and liquid weights were recorded to be used in calculations in the days to follow.”

The Redbird #15 is the rocket that her group designed to launch at White Sands Missile Range. This is where she really had to put her education to work and it presented her with her hardest problem to solve.

“The toughest problem I came across was “trouble shooting” an injector design that had mysteriously failed  in a Redbird rocket from the year before. My teammates and I designed several tests to attempt to understand the previous failure, and this proved to be quite difficult. After a redesign with new materials, the injector worked flawlessly in our Redbird rocket.”

Even with this struggle accomplished with perfect results, she considers another success the greatest her and her team accomplished during their time in the program.

“I would consider my (and my team’s) best success being the first high school team to complete a full round of three 40 second hybrid test burns. This had been attempted by several classes before us (and even ourselves the year before), so coming back the next year and being successful was a great feeling.”

The SystemsGo program teaches individual accountability as well as team coherence. Anissa found this to be one of the most important things she learned in the program.

“This program taught me countless lessons and technical approaches to problems, but the most important thing I learned was the importance of communication. It is impossible to accomplish any great task without full communication and understanding from every team member involved.”

Many of the students who have participated in this program, not only go on to higher education and careers in STEM fields, they enjoy giving back to the program where ever possible. Anissa is no exception to this, she returns each year to help as launch pad lead at the Willow City launches.  If possible she plans to continue helping and being involved with the program however possible.

“I would enjoy mentoring and helping students in the future with the design process or understanding the set up and procedures of building the static propulsion testing. I would also enjoy having a job with SystemsGo in the future. I think having experience in industry would be valuable to gain first, but I would enjoy coming back and teaching at some point.

Her current advice for students considering or currently in the program is, “work as hard as you can every day. Don’t be afraid to get sweaty and leave class with your hands dirty. It doesn’t matter how smart you are, you will learn so much if you are eager to get involved!”

Along with the fantastic education the SystemsGo STEM program provides in the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics fields, it also helps build confidence and character. It teaches each student to reach into themselves and take pride in what they are accomplishing and can accomplish. For many students, it is a learning boost they may never have known they needed until they discovered it in themselves during the program. Anissa sums up that experience.

“I learned that I am capable of accomplishing anything I have my heart in and I’m willing to work hard to achieve.”

I would like to thank Anissa Kneese for participating in this article series.  These are written in hopes that all may understand the impact that STEM can have on your students and future employees. Having a program available at the high school level to teach, encourage and support this type of learning is instrumental to getting these students into great career futures.  Encourage your students to get involved in STEM and the SystemsGo program if it is available at your child’s school. If it is not available, look into how you can bring it to your area. This program will greatly benefit your school and children.

If you know or have a student that went through the program that would like to share their story here, please contact me in the comment section on this blog or if you follow it on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn contact me there, and I will send you information to participate.

http://www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.

What’s All This About Rockets: Success Stories–Robert Deaver

In 1996 in the small town of Fredericksburg, Texas a high school Aerospace program was begun and built literally from the classroom skyward as then, teacher, Brett Williams, developed a plan to build and launch rockets in a classroom setting in order to teach and implement a STEM curriculum. This class originally known as Principles of Technology (the POT Class, as it was fondly referred too), later became the SystemsGo program of Education In Motion, teaching students all over the state and now New Mexico too how to use the principles of STEM to build a career.

In this series of Interview style articles, we will meet individuals that studied under this program and have gone on to build their futures on the skills it teaches. The first gentleman we will meet, is Robert Deaver.

When speaking with indiviuals that have been through this STEM program, especially in the beginning, one thing stands out. Most of them started out in the program because the course name/description sounded interesting, and it provided a science credit.  As years went by and the program became known for building and  launching rockets, that in itself became a big draw for the program, although most participants still did not expect it to have the impact on their career choices that it did.

Robert, when asked why he got involved in the STEM program, was no different. “The class name sounded interesting and it counted as a science credit.”

That simple approach drew in the first classes that set forth to build a rocket, launching  the much more valuable vehicle of their futures  as time and learning evolved.

Robert was in the class during its ground breaking days, working on the construction and flight of the Red Bird #1, #2 and #3 rockets. These were the very formative first two years of the program as students and teacher learned together exactly what it took to create these projects. At first this was just a really fun and new concept of hands on learning and teaching that the students enjoyed.

The original class was only a one year class, but students really took to it and then this “science credit” soon became a class that students took because they wanted to experience it again.

“The course was so much fun I asked if i could take it again and was allowed. I initially took the course because it sounded interesting. I took it a second time because it was fun and challenging,” Robert stated when asked what his reasons were for taking the course.

Robert credits the program with setting him on his career path. He earned a BS in Electrical Engineering a the University of Texas at San Antonio and a MS in Computer Engineering at the University of Tennessee. Robert worked for IBM, Dell, and  after graduation, Real Time Systems, where he spent the last four years designing embedded systems that are used world-wide. After his recent marriage he moved to Boerne, where he started a new career as a hardware engineer at Futurex in Bulverde.

“I did not go directly from high school into an engineering program in college, but being exposed to the ideas and concepts of engineering in the Principles of Technology (precursor to the StystemsGo program) led me there eventually. I learned about Real Time Systems through volunteering with SystemsGo and after I graduated applied for a job with RTS and was hired.” Robert stated.

In his time in the program he worked on 3 of the Red Bird Rocket projects, #1, #2, and #3.  On all three, Avionics and Electronics were his main team focus therefore he was instrumental in Altimeter configuration on all three. On RB#1 he also worked on the Audio/Video Recording and Transmission, and the Fill and Fire system design and construction. On RB#2 he took on the Recovery System design, and on RB#3 the Airframe and Fin design.

Live video transmission from rocket to ground is what he remembers as the worst problem that he tried to solve while working on the RB#1 rocket.

“The electronics were ‘fiddly’ and although it worked well on the  ground, we were not able to get it functional during launch.”

In spite of this, RB#1 is still what he remembers as his best success from the program.

“I watched as a rocket  that my team and I researched, designed, and built from scratch soared off the launch pad. That feeling of accomplishment is truly indescribable!”

During these years he learned that he really liked working with electronics.  He also learned how to work on large projects as a team.

“The Red Bird 1, Redbird 2, and Red Bird 3 were by far the largest projects I had participated in at that time. Each project required interaction with others on my team and with other teams to complete.”

Even with all he learned he still did not realize the impact this program would make on his career choices until he was in college.

“During engineering school, I realized how much more prepared I was due to the project and team interaction skills I learned in what later became the SystemsGo Program.”

When I asked Robert  what advice he would give to current and future students in the program, here is what he had to say, “If you even think you are interested in engineering take these classes and pay attention. The problem solving and team work skills you learn in the SystemsGo program will be invaluable once you get to college.”

Another success of this program is that students from past years come back year after year to volunteer with the program. Many take time out of school and careers to do this. Robert is no exception. He volunteers annually  for the Central Texas, South Texas, and Goddard launches. He has also been named a board member, where he is happy to be able to, “help shape the program.”

I would like to thank Robert Deaver for participating in this article series. He is only the first in what I hope to bring to you as an ongoing series of success stories. These are written in hopes that all may understand the impact that STEM can have on your students and future employees. Having a program available at the high school level to teach, encourage and support this type of learning is instrumental to getting these students into great career futures.  Encourage your students to get involved in STEM and the SystemsGo program if it is available at your child’s school. If it is not available, look into how you can bring it to your area. This program will greatly benefit your school and children.

If you know or have a student that went through the program that would like to share their story here, please contact me in the comment section on this blog or if you follow it on Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn contact me there, and I will send you information to participate.

www.systemsgo.org as always is the place for more information on this program. You may also email them at info@systemsgo.org .Take the time to get your school involved, the future of your students will be greatly benefited.