Sixteen high schoolers from various parts of the country attended the Prescott Summer Programs’ Balloon Camp, the most popular of the campus’s four engineering summer camps, and participated in a weather balloon launch.
“It’s very hands-on,” said Kori Skurja, Prescott Summer Programs coordinator, of the camp, explaining that the students design and build their payloads before launching them into the sky via balloon.
The balloons are expected to travel 80,000 to 90,000 feet into the atmosphere. Along the way, photos and data will be collected before the balloon descends back down to earth and is retrieved via GPS.
In addition to the balloon launch, participants learned basic circuit design, structural and mechanical properties, sauntering, basic programming and data-logging/analysis at the camp.
“This really is a condensed version of our Experimental Space Systems class,” said student Clayton Jacobs, camp advisor and intern with the NASA Space Grant Program. “These kids start with nothing and learn a little bit of everything. They go from zero to hero.”
Boeing also recognizes the importance of the camp by offering full tuition scholarships to five participating attendees.
“If we can get kids involved in engineering, aerospace and technology early on, hopefully this can spark their interest in both Embry-Riddle and a career in this field,” Jacobs added.
By Bryan Dougherty
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