St Augustine High students test rocket designs

For the past six years, Academy Director Gail Cullum has been the head of a St Augustine High School program that is part of a partnership with Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach.

Yesterday, local high school students launched model rockets of their own design and construction as part of their aeronautical academy training — students, who Cullum told reporters in a televised interview, have good prospects for future engineering careers.

“We absolutely have students come out of this and move into engineering,” Cullum told reporters.

Each rocket launch was measured for height using hand held devices operated by the student evaluators. It was a lesson in precision.

The program hopes to introduce graduating seniors to aeronautics. And, through projects and experiments such as this, determine aptitude and interest in potential private sector space jobs on the horizon.

In the interview, Cullum said, “The idea is that we inspire them to actually want to work on real rockets.”

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is a fully accredited post-graduate university offering science, technology, and management of aviation and aerospace degrees at the bachelor, masters, and doctoral levels.