Aditya Das, Nicole Sogonic, Hailey Cavanagh and Joseph Applegate operate the tracking station at Robinson Elementary School’s Rocket Day June 17, 2015. (Staff photo by Carly Szabo.)
By Carly Szabo
The sun shined down on Robinson Elementary School in Hamilton on June 17 as students and staff prepared for the annual Rocket Day. Parents, teachers, students and community leaders gathered around for the model rocket launch, as is done at the end of each school year. This year marked the 42nd year of Rocket Day’s existence with Jerry Iacona leading the celebration.
Iacona has coordinated Rocket Day since its inception in the spring of 1973. The model rocket launch celebration came about after Iacona realized there was a strong interest in rockets among his students. He used the rockets as an opportunity to teach children about topics such as science and mathematics.
“I had some rockets in school that I started to find out the kids were interested in and I used it as a method to teach math, science and other skills,” Iacona said. Iacona has since retired from his days of teaching, but still continues to coordinate Rocket Day for Robinson Elementary School each year.
This year’s Rocket Day celebration commenced with a few words from Iacona as well as speeches made by Principal Kelli Eppley, state Sen. Linda Greenstein and Assemblyman Dan Benson. The ceremony included a special guest, Mercer County Freeholder Pat Colavita, who was honored for his civic and community involvement.
Colavita has attended Rocket Day for 12 years and speaks highly of the model rocket launch program at Robinson Elementary School.
“This is what learning is all about,” Colavita said. “It’s applying what you’ve learned and watching it come to fruition.”
Rockets streaked the sky as he commented on the importance of learning and cooperation.
Cooperation is a big part of Rocket Day with children manning several different model rocket launch stations including inspection and repair, recovery, mission control, tracking and launch pad.
“Rocket Day is about learning math and science, treating this as a science experiment, working together and having fun,” Iacona said.
But before children could get a chance to participate in one of the many stations involved in Rocket Day, they had to go through an application process in order to assess their ability to participate in the event.
“It was quite extensive to get selected to be a part of the various stations on the field,” said Iacona who, personally reviewed the applications along with selected staff members of Robinson Elementary. Once selected, however, children enjoyed learning about the history, science and mathematics behind rockets and rocket building.
“We learned about all the history of rockets, how to decorate them and how to launch them properly,” said Ashley Lauver, a student involved in the repair station portion of Rocket Day.
Children got to see what they had learned in action after the welcoming ceremony concluded. Colette Pluta’s class delivered the ceremonial “eggstronaut,” an egg to be attached to the first launched rocket, during a flag ceremony and egg procession immediately following the welcoming ceremony. The Robinson Elementary School band played music as Pluta’s class marched their way out to the field to deliver the egg to Iacona and Colavita, who prepared and launched the first rocket.
What an exciting first launch it was, as the rocket cascaded down from the sky and into the crowd of parents seated for the ceremony. The “eggstronaut” sadly did not survive the fall, breaking on a bystander’s shoe. It’s a token of good luck, Colavita said, as he rushed to the scene of the crash to make sure everyone was OK.
After the initial excitement, students gathered at their respective stations to simulate the launch. Divided into four groups, the students moved quickly and efficiently with the guidance of Iacona as they launched a total of 50 rockets overhead. The students collected data about the height their rockets reached and gathered around after the conclusion of the event to discuss their scientific findings with Iacona.
“Today the rockets reached heights of 300-350 feet,” Iacona said.
Students were proud of this feat, enthusiastically discussing their findings with Iacona as well as one another. Parents also were impressed by the heights reached by the model rockets as they looked onward from below, shielding their eyes from the sun’s rays.
While Rocket Day may be over for the students involved in this year’s launch, Iacona will return for years to come coordinating the event for the next round of fourth graders preparing to take on the challenge.
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