The Centennial Cultural Center’s (CCC) annual Rocket Camp was held last week with 10 youth gaining valuable experience in engineering and having a fun time blasting their homemade rockets into the sky.
CCC Director Donna Lindsey noted the annual camp has become a favorite for students in the northwest LaSalle area and credits retired LaSalle High School science teacher Prentiss Powell for the success of each camp.
The camp was held for five days, June 1519, at the center in Olla. Participants, ages 9-14 years of age, built two rockets during the week, a one-stage rocket and a two-stage rocket.
On Monday, the final day, the camp moved to the Olla Sports Complex beside LaSalle High School where the students were able to see their creations in action.
Each child was allowed to press the ignition to fire their rockets into the sky. They watched in amazement as it shot high into the air and deployed a parachute, and then had fun trying to catch the rocket as it slowly descended back to earth.
Lindsey said the camp is so successful every year due to the uniqueness of the rocket launches but also due to the dedicated volunteers who donate their time in the summer.
“Along with Mr. Powell, we would like to thank all of our volunteers who helped make this camp successful,” she said. “They are Mari Cassel, Ashton Cockerham, Natalie Nagler, Cheryl Majors, and CCC Board President R.V. Couch.
There are three more CCC camps being offered this summer, including Special Needs Camp, Literacy Camp, and ‘The Experimentation Station’ Science Camp.
