No Time to Breath

By Sarah Pearson

This past summer was one of the busiest I have ever had. I began the summer by attending the VSE: Rocketry. Over the 3-day livechat, we got to talk with experts, mainly from Dryden Flight Center and perform a wide variety of rocketry experiments. Some of our experiments included pop rockets, hero can engines, and building a two stage balloon rocket.

The week after the VSE, I left to attend a week long Aerospace Engineering camp at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Az. It was a week packed full of lectures and projects. There were about 70 students total, and I was one of only eight girls in attendance. We started off in Propulsion, where we launched rockets with B class engines and got to go see a turboprop engine running in the propulsion lab. Next we build sumo-bots using Lego Mindstorms. We also had a crash course in Matlab as well as in SolidWorks. In using SolidWorks, we designed bridges in teams that we would latter print out via the 3d printer and test in the structures lab. In our aerodynamics/wind tunnel class, we got to go to the wind tunnel lab and view demonstrations in the supersonic wind tunnel and in the larger open tunnel. They have a total of 8, including a hydro-tunnel. Our last project was to design a glider using Avery, build it out of balsa wood, and then test it against everyone else’s.  During the week, I lived on campus in the dorms, which are suite style. They are very roomy for a dorm room and include a fridge/freezer, stovetop and microwave in the lounge. We also got a tour of the campus which is very small, under 3,000 students, but was gorgeous none the less. Some of the other highlights of the campus are the meteorology lab, Air Traffic Control, Lab and the Jet Dragster workshop. The camp was a great opportunity to learn more about the campus and what the classes are like. I am diffidently applying to go her for college next year and just hope I get in.

Following the camp, I went on a road trip of Arizona and Southern California. Some of the many stops included Meteor Crater, Grand Canyon, Hoover dam, Disneyland, California Science Center, and Warner Bros. Studios, in addition to many others. I even met Duff Goldman owner of Charm City Cakes and food network star.

To round out the rest of my summer, I spent four weeks as an intern at The Discovery Museum: Science & Space Center of Sacramento .I helped the educators lead groups of 15-24 children ages 5-13 in various activities. Our themes included Robot Renegades, Destination Space for Girls, Imagine Moon and Imagine Mars. Some of the highlights were Challenger missions, planetarium presentations, robotic programming, and much, much more. I have now continued to volunteer at a regular basis at the museum.

So in the end, I had the best summer ever. I got to travel, learn about space, and create some unforgettable memories. I cannot wait to see what adventures this year will hold.

Discuss this blog here: http://tinyurl.com/bloginspire12