'Commemorate and remember': Rockets focus of Space Camp at John and Annie Glenn Museum

NEW CONCORD — Honoring John Glenn and teaching young people about aspects of his life are part of Space Days at the John and Annie Glenn Museum.

This year's theme was All About Rockets, said Betsy Taylor, coordinator of educational programs with the museum.

The event is held around Glenn's birthday, which is July 18. This year children age 8 to 10 took part in the programs on Monday and ages 11 to 12 participated on Tuesday.

"This is our way to commemorate and remember what John Glenn did during his life," said Taylor, who has worked for the museum since 2005. "We use vocabulary related to the topic so this year we talked about things like thrust, gravity, propelling and pressure. Our experiments then allow the kids to see those words in action."

Eva Kosla took part in several experiments in her first year at the camp. Watching the rockets fly was the best part, she said.

"We got to see how far and high we could shoot them," she remarked. "We also learned that John Glenn met Annie when they were really young. It was cool to learn so much about him."

One of the activities was water rockets. Water was used as fuel, and each participant used a bike tire pump to add air to a 2-liter bottle in an effort to launch it into the air. Taylor said they tried different amounts of water and used the trees to estimate the height of each launch.

"If there's too much water and not enough air, the rocket won't go anywhere," Taylor noted. "Each experiment provides experience. It may not always work, but it provides a good learning opportunity."

Learning how pressure helped lift a rocket was fascinating to William Melsheimer.

"John Glenn got to go around the whole Earth," he said. "Seeing how pressure can shoot a rocket far was awesome."

Camp includes tour of home, other activities

The youth also put together a timeline of Glenn's life, watched a video about rockets, toured his home and saw a mock capsule that allowed Glenn to orbit the Earth.

Kyra Landis also enjoyed using the parachute in her first trip.

"I didn't know much about John Glenn, but it was fun. I liked playing with the parachute and using it for some of the experiments," she said.

This was the third year Emma Elliott has attended. She enjoys space.

"I like learning about space and the planets. We get to talk about really cool things," she said.

Community support is a big part to the event's success. Taylor noted Park National Bank purchased books about space, through Scholastic Books, to give to each camp. They also took home a chemical rocket set from COSI and had Wally's pizza for lunch.

"We've had a such a great response that we do this over two days, and we appreciate the community support so each kid takes something home," she said. "The kids enjoy it, and we're glad we can keep teaching them about John Glenn's contributions."

bhannahs@gannett.com; @brandonhannahs

This article originally appeared on Zanesville Times Recorder: Kids learn, have fun during Space Camp at John and Annie Glenn Museum