HUNTSVILLE, Ala.- After emerging from a stomach-turning ride that provided a feel for gravity loss, a group of exuberant sixth graders from Riverton Middle School looked forward to their next activity, which involved rock climbing. At the nearby Davidson Center, groups of students from Harmony School and Fairview Middle School stopped to learn about and interact with a competition robotics system, a live-fire demonstration of a small-scale Air Defense System, and an unmanned aerial vehicle demonstration, among others.
These three schools were just a few represented by the 250 students present on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (USSRC) for the Third Annual Space and Missile Defense (SMD) Student Day. Formerly known as the Education Track during the annual SMD Conference, the event was aimed at middle school students in sixth and seventh grade and took place from 8:30 a.m. - 2 p.m.
The day was devoted to introducing these students to the excitement of science, technology, engineering and math in an engaging and stimulating environment that will hopefully spark increased interest in these fields of study.
"It definitely keeps me interested in science, math, and computers," said Randy Wiegman, age 12, a seventh-grader at Holy Family School, when asked about the technologies he was seeing.
Wiegman had just finished shooting down the model airplane that represented a real-life Air Defense System at one of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command (USASMDC/ARSTRAT) demonstration booths. He was one of several students in the class to hit the target.
Another student who hit with accuracy, Ashley Armstrong, 12, agreed. "It was a really fun experiment, and it was neat how it is the same as the real thing but just smaller," Armstrong said.
At another inside exhibit, employees from the Program Executive Office (PEO) Aviation showed the students how the Raven unmanned aerial vehicle can assist the Soldier in the field.
"The Army can use this to watch enemies and see what they're doing, " said Mackenzie Moore, age 11, a sixth-grader at West Point Middle School who had an opportunity to study the UAV.
Tanner Rusk, also 11 and a sixth grader at West Point Middle School, worked with some of his fellow students to put together pieces of the Raven UAV.
"I got to attach the camera on the Raven," Rusk said.
At the DARC Robotics display, a small demonstration robot represented tasks based on chemical engineering. Students there seemed to enjoy the opportunity to have a hands-on experience.
Quinn Ready, a fifth grader at Randolph Elementary, said "I would definitely want to do that in the future."
Besides the demonstrations going on within the Davidson Center, the students also had the opportunity to experience USSRC activities such as the G-Force and the MARS Mission experience.
"The pressure in there is insane!" said Anna Balance, 11, of Riverton Middle School's sixth grade class, upon emerging from the G-Force. The G-Force spins its occupants around to the point where a feeling of weightlessness is achieved.
"It made me dizzy, but it was cool to feel like the astronauts feel when they are training," said Taylor Nesselrote, 11, also of Riverton.
Overall, the event achieved its goal of getting these students energized on the topics of science, engineering, and math.
"If we can interest just a handful of kids to go into science and engineering, then this is a worthwhile event," said Dr. Rodney Robertson, director of the USASMDC/ARSTRAT Technical Center and the chair of the National Education Partnership Alliance (NEPA).
ASMDA was an event sponsor, along with the National Defense Industrial Association-Tennessee Valley Chapter and the Air Defense Artillery Association-Redstone Chapter. These sponsors provided free participation for all students. The U.S. Space and Rocket Center hosted the event along with NEPA.
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