WOOSH Hosts "Make It, Take It" Session at Greenfield News and Hobby

by Dr. Paul C. Smith

 

            On Saturday, July 13th, WOOSH hosted a "Make It, Take It" session for kids at Greenfield News and Hobby. Estes donated a box of 50 "Dagger" kits, and WOOSH volunteers helped the children and their parents put the kits together.

 

Fred reminds us to be there at 10 AM sharp…

 

            When I showed up a little before 10, Brian Cieslak and Fred Jarosch were waiting outside the store, as were four or five eager soon-to-be "spacemodeling hobbyists" and their parents. Club President Scott Goebel, and Mark and Zak Stehlik were already inside setting up the work area and a nice display of rockets and rocketry hardware. Once we all got settled, we got right to work.

 

Getting started

Assembling motor mounts

 

            As I suppose is usually the case, some of the parents let their kids do most of the work, while others got their own hands dirty. Either way, several WOOSH volunteers were waiting on hand to make sure that each kid left with a flyable rocket. The cadre of volunteers included Fred, Brian, Brent Lillesand, David Go, and myself. Dan Wolf and his daughter Sarah also showed up a little later to provide some helpful hints and share stories.

 

When in doubt, follow the directions…

 

Make sure they're straight

 

            Besides receiving the Dagger rockets, each child was also given a coupon good for two B6-4 motors at the Eat Cheese or Fly launch to be held the following Saturday (July 20th). The motors were made available to the club at a significantly reduced cost by WOOSH volunteer and Webmaster, Scott Hansen.

            We would like to thank Estes for their generosity in providing the rocket kits, and of course Greenfield News & Hobby (68th and Layton) for providing the space and the advertising. We would also like to thank WOOSH President Scott Goebel for his significant effort in organizing the event, and Mark and Zak Stehlik for helping Scott coordinate things and providing the rocket display.

 

Post-ECOF Postscript

            ECOF 2002 was blessed yet again with wonderful weather, and a number of the "Make It, Take It" participants showed up to fly their new rockets and to watch the other flights. I'm sure we'll have a final count soon, and that it'll appear in an article about ECOF itself, but a first guess is that at least a half dozen of the "Make It, Take It" participants took advantage of the opportunity to fly with the club on Saturday at ECOF. It's clear that the "Make It, Take It" session was a complete success in every way.