The Boys and Girls Club in Vestal ran a two-month program with the community kids in South Knoxville focused on the E in STEM, learning the basic concepts of engineering and precision designing.

Director Oliver Clegg explained how they had a myriad of challenges for participants ranging from the good old-fashioned egg drop test to building hydraulic machines. They were able to link up with the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics at UT whose students came to the Vestal location where the UT students ran a program for the kids, passing on their passion for STEM before they graduated and headed off to places like NASA and Lockheed Martin to start their careers.

The Boys and Girls Club capped the program with students constructing their own black powder engine rockets, loaded with secondary charges to eject parachutes and provide a safe landing. Students spent weeks tweaking designs and keeping in mind that even a slight change to weight distribution could cause a failed flight. The outcome was rockets going over 150 feet in the air and safely returning to land, all by the sweat and focus they put into each model.

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