A teacher from the Chisholm Catholic College of Cornubia invited the Queensland Rocketry Society to deliver a presentation on Friday 24th April '09 to about 10 of his students who study physics. When Ari, Blake, George and Petar arrived, the teacher invited other teachers who were also interested in attending. All of a sudden, about 120 students their teachers joined the presentation.
Petar delivered an excellent presentation on rockets, which includes many topics from the Apollo moon landing to the space shuttle. Meanwhile, Ari set-up an Estes Patriot for a launch on an Estes B6-4 motor. As soon as Petar finished his presentation all the students joined in the counted down and the Patriot leapt into the sky, accompanied by loud cheers and clapping.
Next Ari showed the students a range of hobby rockets from low-power up to high-power, including his recently completed Intimidator-4. Petar explained some more about how model rockets work while Ari set-up the Patriot for another launch; this time on bigger motor, an Estes C6-3. The second launch prompted even louder applause and lots of "Wow's" from the senior students. Although this was the conclusion of the official presentation, some of the teachers had one-on-one conversations about rocketry for another half an hour.
It was another rewarding experience and the students obviously enjoyed it very much!
On Wednesday 6th May '09, Ari, Blake, Pavi Brendan and Petar visited Flagstone Community College to deliver a similar presentation to four teachers and about 150 students. A photographer from the local Jimboomba Times newspaper also came along to capture the story in writing and photographs.
Petar delivered his usual fantastic presentations and Ari orchestrated two launches of the Estes Patriot just before it started to drizzle with light rain. Amazingly, the heavy rain held off just long enough for us to finish our presentation and demonstration launches.
If you would like the Queensland Rocketry Society to visit your local school to deliver an educational presentation about rockets, including a demonstration of a model rocket, please telephone Mr Ari Piirainen on 0412 650 682.
