Things that Fly Camp teaches students about principles of flight

Area students took to the sky for some end of summer entertainment.

Iowa State University Extension and Outreach Franklin County last Wednesday and Thursday hosted a “Things That Fly Camp” for area students.

Over the two day camp, students learned about rocket flight, efforts of NASA and native birds, all with the purpose of getting an insight to how encompassing the term “flight” can be.

“By covering so much, they’ll be able to list off facts, talk about the principles of flight and what’s in the environment around them,” said Laela Ragsdale, Youth Pro-gram Intern with the Extension office.

Along the way, students completed activities and projects related to the lesson and ended the camp by launching model rockets they made into the sky.

Gabe Jorgensen, a Frank-lin County Farm Bureau agent, provided the materials for the rockets and helped the students ready for launch.

Ragsdale said the hands-on projects help the students better understand the principles they’re taught throughout the camp. By seeing how flight works firsthand, they’ll gain a better appreciation for the intricacies of the flight process.

“It’s really hands-on and there’s so much they can learn,” she said.

No matter the lessons gained, Ragsdale said the main mission of the camp was to give students a fun activity to round out a summer where so many events and camps were cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We wanted them to have a way to have fun around their friends and have fun in a learning mindset,” she said.