Consortium Touts Aerospace Careers to High Schoolers

Jeremy Rodgers, a rising junior from Mills High School, scrutinized his calculations before placing his soda straw “rocket” in a launching pump, sending it off on a graceful arc over the front lawn of UALR’s engineering building on June 27. He was one of 15 Pulaski County high school students chosen to participate in a two-week Aerospace Summer Academy sponsored by the Central Arkansas Aerospace Alliance. The consortium is a partnership between UALR, the Little Rock School District, Pulaski Technical College, the Little Rock Airport Commission, and area aerospace and aviation companies to promote student interest in aerospace careers. The goal is to encourage bright science-minded students to consider careers in the aerospace industry. Central Arkansas is going to need as many highly skilled workers in the aerospace field as it can educate. Just this month Dassault Falcon Jet announced it is doubling its operations in Little Rock. Vernard Henley, director of educational outreach and diversity at UALR’s Donaghey College of Information Science and Systems Engineering, said the two-week academy experience showed the students how math theories learned from a textbook can be applied to send a rocket soaring across the sky. The object, Henley said, is to capture their interest and open their minds to possibilities. It seems to be working for Rodgers. “I’ve never taken trigonometry, and now I love it,” said Rodgers, who had planned on playing football to get into college. “I’m getting hooked. I’m starting to like this more than football.”