Cape educator takes part in NASA rocket academy for teachers

During the summer, Cape Henlopen High School math teacher Dr. Amie King spent part of her break at the forefront of aerospace education.

King was selected as one of only 20 educators nationwide to participate in NASA’s Wallops Rocket Academy for Teachers. The immersive, week-long program was held at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

During the academy, King collaborated with STEM educators from across the country in a variety of hands-on activities including model rocket construction, parachute design and flight simulation. Workshops were led by NASA scientists and engineers who provided strategies for integrating aerospace concepts into classroom instruction.

“For me, the most exciting part was seeing geometry in action,” said King. “We analyzed rocket trajectory paths, calculated launch angles and explored the geometry of fins, nose cones and stability. These are the same types of problems we work through in class, but with rockets! It was a perfect example of how geometric concepts like symmetry, trigonometry and surface area apply to real-world aerospace engineering.”

Participants also toured restricted NASA facilities and witnessed the Aug. 12 RockSat-X mission, where a sounding rocket carried experiments designed by eight university student teams into space.

King returns to Cape High this semester with new resources, real-world examples and renewed enthusiasm for connecting math lessons to aerospace and space science. “My goal is to inspire our students to see themselves as future engineers, pilots and scientists,” said King. “Experiences like this help me bring NASA directly into the classroom and show students how math opens doors to incredible opportunities.”