Mike Wolanin | The Republic Scott Decker, left, helps Alex Kerkhof launch his model rocket for the 4-H Rocket Demonstration during the Bartholomew County Fair at the Bartholomew County Fairgrounds in Columbus, Ind., Friday, June 30, 2023.
It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s … 4-Hers?
That may well have been the thought of some Bartholomew County 4-H fairgoers Friday morning, as a small group of students launched model rockets at the fairgrounds. The activity was organized by the Happy H-ers club and led by 4-H leaders Scott and Laura Decker.
Isaac Kerkhof had perhaps the most eventful launch of the day. At first, he counted down and nothing happened, due to an issue with electrical plugs touching each other.
Once the issue was resolved, however, the rocket soared into the sky, making it all the way to Dunn Stadium.
As the other students made their way to the diamonds, Scott Decker told Ella Kerkhof they would have to wait on launching her model rocket until Isaac’s was retrieved.
“Otherwise we’re not going to find this rocket in a million years,” said Decker.
Another rocket landed nose-down into the ground, not far from the launch pad.
“It was about 2 inches down in the dirt,” said parent Eric Kerkhof.
Isaac, who has been participating in the launch for about three or four years, said that he enjoys seeing how high the rockets go, and the experience has taught him how to protect the falling angle of these devices.
Building the rocket can be challenging, he said, noting that one of the important details is “sanding the fins to the right texture.”
“What they’re doing with the artsy side does actually affect the flight of the rocket,” said Laura Decker. “So, for instance, if their sanding isn’t smooth enough or if they didn’t put their decals on nice and smooth, there’ll be bubbles on the rocket, and that’ll affect its flight. So they learn that there’s a cause and effect to what they’re doing.”
She said that students launched rockets they built from kits and entered into the fair for this year’s 4-H Aerospace Project, with some bringing rockets from previous years as well.
Students deployed their rockets one at a time, first placing the device on a launch pad and connecting it to electric tethers, then walking back to the “mission control” table. After a countdown, the student inserted the key and launched the rocket using a remote.
“When they float back down to earth, the kids collect them, hopefully,” said Laura Decker. “We’ve lost a few over the years. And the idea is, kids get to see kind of the finish of their project. And that way, the rockets go up, they retrieve them, they bring them back. If they can shoot them up again, they reset them with the new engine and new igniters and all that stuff.”
However, the students whose rocket projects were chosen to advance to the Indiana State Fair did not launch these models on Friday, as this could lead to “wear and tear” before the big event, she said.
The students going to state fair with their projects are:
- Grades 3-5: Daxton Wolf (champion, grand champion)
- Grades 6-8: Drew Gatewood (champion, reserve grand champion)
- Grades 9-12: Kyleigh Wolf (champion)
Laura Decker said that the rockets provide an opportunity for students to explore the field of aerospace and, like other 4-H projects, gives them the chance to “delve into something a little bit more deeply than what they might see in school.”
“They all seem to enjoy shooting them off, and it is fun to watch them go up, and depending on what the wind’s doing and depending on how well they’ve put the fins on, a copped fin will make the rocket fly a funny direction,” she said. “So it comes down to how well did they build their rocket. And so then they start learning principals of aerospace, aerodynamics and just how air moving the cardboard tube or whatever, how it affects the flight of the rocket.”
Scott Decker said in addition to hopefully sparking an interest in science and technology, launching rockets gives kids “an opportunity to see the fun side of it.”
He added that part of the fun of launch day is having to troubleshoot problems, like Isaac’s initial launch issue and Oliver Kerkhof helping Ella sand her rocket before it went up.
“You can’t teach that stuff in school,” he said. “You just can’t.”
