Kids build rockets in Adventure Camp

Karen Rojas (front) and Jenna Boyd volunteer at the Adventure Camp at Sacred Heart School to help sand the fins on the rockets for some of the campers. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Mitch Jeter glues in the part that holds the rocket engine at Adventure Camp at Sacred Heart School. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

Rocketry, Geocaching and robotics were all part of at Adventure Camp at Sacred Heart School. Photo by Jon C. Lakey, Salisbury Post.

By Kathy Chaffin

kchaffin@salisburypost.com

One of the big adventures of the Adventure Camp of Sacred Heart is the rocket launch Friday afternoon.

But first the 40-plus K-8 students participating in the two-week camp have to assemble them.

”This particular model flies 700, 800 feet in the air,“ said Frankie Cardelle, one of the volunteers at the camp. Campers at various stages of completing their ”Flying Model Rocket Kit“ worked on their rockets after lunch Wednesday afternoon.

In the past, Cardelle said the rockets have gone as high as 1,500 feet. ”You probably won’t ever see them again,“ he told the campers.

The younger campers were given simpler models with only three wooden fins. Camp volunteers Karen Rojas, who graduated this year from Salisbury High, and Jenna Boyd, a rising junior at Gray Stone Day School, sanded their fins.

”According to Frankie,“ Rojas said, ”the more you sand the sides of them, the faster they go through the air. So you kind of make them rounded.“

Mitch Jeter, a rising third- grader at Salisbury Academy, and Mathias de Comarmond (who said he writes Mathias de on all his papers ”and the teachers totally understand), a rising sixth-grader at Sacred Heart, missed the first day of camp, so they’re having to work faster to catch up with their fellow campers.

Frankie pointed out little compartment to be attached to the rockets and said they’re going to put eggs inside them to see if they crack.

Wouldn’t it be weird if one hatched? Mathias asked. Or even more interesting, he added, what if they sent the rockets up with live chicks inside?

Well, maybe not, he decided after considering the possibility that the chicks might not survive.

The rocket launch will be held at 1:15 p.m. on the school grounds, according to a sign in the hallway.

Frankie said he launched one Wednesday morning that flew 600 feet in the sky. ”We were chasing it,“ Mitch said.

The rocket makers are also making robots from kits. Mathias, who collects robots, said he’s enjoying that even more than the rockets.

Ceci Cardelle, younger sister of Frankie, said it’s not too difficult if you follow the instructions. Minutes later, she told her brother she was done with hers.

”Let’s see if it works,“ he said, then followed her outside.

Ceci set the red and blue, solar-operated robot on the sidewalk, but it didn’t move. ”It probably has to charge,“ she said while reaching down to touch it. ”It’s vibrating,“ she added.

Frankie picked up the robot and turned it over. ”The problem is your bottom gear,“ he said. ”You missed a gear.“

Ceci took it from him and went back to her worktable.

Other activities at the camp include art, computers, movie making and chess.

Their mother, Ilse Cardelle, who was teaching Spanish at the camp, said her husband, Frank, principal at Sacred Heart Catholic School, started it after serving previously for 10 years as director of the Miami Museum of Science Summer Camp.

Contact Kathy Chaffin at 704-797-4249.