Rockets launched in Nunapitchuk

The whole school turned out to watch the festivities. Several students are tracking a rocket in flight waiting for the parachute to deploy. Photos by Chelsea Alexie and Jaden Andrew

by Samantha Thornton

Nunapitchuk, AK – After a long wait for a clear, calm day, the students and staff of Anna Tobeluk Memorial School in Nunapitchuk were treated to a model rocket launch on Friday, May 11.
Secondary mathematics teacher, Lonny Cruff, has coordinated this event for the past three years and said this year was the best yet.
“At the conclusion of the school year, I have all of my secondary math classes make model rockets as a project to work with a complex and lengthy set of written instructions. It doesn’t hurt that it’s fun as well!”

Geometry students measured the angle to the maximum height of the rocket. Here tracking the flight are Agatha Flynn, Marilyn Andrew, and Eliza Enoch. Photos by Chelsea Alexie and Jaden Andrew

In addition to the task of building and launching the models, the Geometry class also measured the angle of altitude and brought that data back into the classroom, and used it to calculate the altitude in feet using trigonometric formulas.
It was a morning of awe and laughter for the crowd of student and staff spectators. As rocket parachutes fell back down amongst them, several students were heard to say that they hope to get into a high-level math class so that they could one day be out on the launch deck.