{"id":75220,"date":"2026-03-18T08:12:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T12:12:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/?p=75220"},"modified":"2026-07-16T08:42:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T12:42:45","slug":"normal-park-students-explore-stem-through-rocket-moc-launches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.utc.edu\/news\/2026\/03\/normal-park-students-explore-stem-through-rocket-moc-launches\/","title":{"rendered":"Normal Park students explore STEM through Rocket Moc launches"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Miles,

Miles, a Normal Park Museum Magnet School student, points toward the sky while tracking a model rocket launch during a Rocket Mocs activity. Photo by Angela Foster.<\/p><\/div>\n

Dozens of middle school students gathered on the football field at Normal Park Museum Magnet School on a recent Friday to watch small rockets they helped design launch into the sky.<\/p>\n

For many of the students, it was their first time watching a rocket launch.<\/p>\n

The activity was led by students and staff from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. For UTC senior mechanical engineering major Diego Garcia, the event was more than a simple STEM project, as Garcia once attended Normal Park himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt feels pretty good to be back here,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI got to see a lot of my old middle school teachers going, \u2018Hey, what\u2019s going on, what are you doing here?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia helped organize the launch as part of outreach connected to UTC\u2019s Rocket Mocs team and its participation in NASA\u2019s University Student Launch Initiative. Garcia had a STEM engagement requirement for NASA USLI and realized reaching out to local schools would be a \u201ccool way\u201d to have a hands-on rocket launch event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI started contacting different schools,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cI thought if we could do an event like this with an eighth-grade class, it would be a fun way to introduce them to rocketry.\u201d<\/p>\n

Around 70 Normal Park middle school students attended the event. Prior to launch day, the students had the opportunity to choose different components\u2014including fin shapes and nose cones\u2014which would affect the rockets’ altitude or speed.<\/p>\n

Once the rockets were assembled, the students gathered outside to watch the rockets take flight. The rockets were made to go about 100 feet in the air.<\/p>\n

\u201cOnce the rockets actually went off, you could see the students start to brighten up and go, \u2018Whoa,\u2019\u201d Garcia said. \u201cWatching the students’ reactions has been the most rewarding part of the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"UTC

UTC engineering students Gabriel Mejia, left, Joshua Jackson, Diego Garcia and Everett Stockman accompanied UC Foundation Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Trevor Elliott to the Normal Park Museum Magnet School event.<\/p><\/div>\n

The outreach event was supported by faculty members involved with the University\u2019s rocketry program, including UC Foundation Associate Professor of Mechanical Engineering Trevor Elliott, the faculty advisor for the UTC Rocket Mocs team.<\/p>\n

Elliott said activities like these are important for students to help them discover things they might not have considered otherwise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf students don\u2019t get hands-on involvement in engineering aspects, they don\u2019t necessarily know that it\u2019s a field they are interested in,\u201d Elliott said.<\/p>\n

For Normal Park eighth-grade science teacher Ashley Carr, the launch was tied directly to earlier discussions about Newton\u2019s laws of motion.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the beginning of the year we spent a lot of time learning Newton\u2019s laws,\u201d Carr said. \u201cOne of the very famous examples of Newton\u2019s third law is rocketry, so it\u2019s really cool to get to see that in action.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Several<\/p>\n

Before the launch day, she said the students learned about and discussed how different rocket parts could affect the launch. After the launches, the students discussed whether their design choices helped them achieve their original goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re making a hypothesis, experimenting and then analyzing their results,\u201d Carr said.<\/p>\n

Josie, an eighth grader at Normal Park, said she \u201cliked watching all the rockets launch. I was surprised how high they went.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her classmate, Miles, said the activity was unlike anything he had done in school.<\/p>\n

\u201cJust getting to watch all of them go super high into the sky was really cool,\u201d Miles said. \u201cI enjoyed it a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garcia hopes events like these will give younger students a chance to see a different side of science and engineering, and help them realize they might want to explore it more in the future.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just think it is important to broaden horizons,\u201d Garcia said. \u201cThey don\u2019t know what they\u2019re missing until they get to experience it; maybe they will see it and think this is actually pretty neat.\u201d<\/p>\n

Learn more<\/h4>\n

Visit UTC<\/a><\/p>\n

UTC College of Engineering and Computer Science<\/a><\/p>\n

Rocket Mocs<\/a><\/p>\n

How to apply<\/a><\/p>\n

Photo gallery by Angela Foster<\/h4>\n
\"Josie,

Josie, a Normal Park Museum Magnet School student, runs across a grassy field carrying a recovered model rocket after its launch.<\/p><\/div>\n

\"A <\/a> <\/div>
\"Normal <\/a> <\/div>
\"Dr. <\/a> <\/div> <\/div>
\"A <\/a> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div> <\/div>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Dozens of middle school students gathered on the football field at Normal Park Museum Magnet School on a recent Friday to watch small rockets they helped design launch into the sky. For many of the students, it was their first time watching a rocket launch. And for UTC mechanical engineering major Diego Garcia, the event was more than a simple STEM project; Garcia once attended Normal Park himself.<\/p>\n

Continue Reading <\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1493,"featured_media":75230,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_slider":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_featurette":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,70,123864,59,3,122493,7712,52,12740,8325,661],"tags":[126804,126560,123827,123826,126217,125750,127070,127061,126801,123828,124776,126803,126802,123829,123483,70328,18548,934],"class_list":{"0":"post-75220","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-academics","8":"category-advancement-and-alumni","9":"category-college-of-engineering-and-computer-science","10":"category-community","11":"category-education","12":"category-faculty-and-staff","13":"category-graduate-school","14":"category-mechanical-engineering","15":"category-news","16":"category-service","17":"category-students","18":"tag-ashley-carr","19":"tag-audrey-bigham","20":"tag-creating-the-mocs-experience","21":"tag-cultivating-a-culture-of-innovation","22":"tag-diego-garcia","23":"tag-gabe-mejia","24":"tag-goal-1-1-expand-utcs-educational-footprint-strategic-plan-2030","25":"tag-goal-5-1-community-engagement-strategic-plan-2030","26":"tag-joshua-jackson","27":"tag-leveraging-our-special-place-as-chattanoogas-university","28":"tag-mocs-learn-mocs-do-mocs-lead","29":"tag-nasas-university-student-launch-initiative","30":"tag-normal-park-museum-magnet-school","31":"tag-operating-with-excellence","32":"tag-rett-stockman","33":"tag-rocket-mocs","34":"tag-stem","35":"tag-trevor-elliott","36":"entry"},"yoast_head":"\nNormal Park students explore STEM through Rocket Moc launches | UTC News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Dozens of middle school students gathered on the football field at Normal Park Museum Magnet School on a recent Friday to watch small rockets they helped design launch into the sky. 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