[roc-chat] Re: ROC News and Requests
- From: rtd@xxxxxxxxxxxx
- To: <roc-chat@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Wed, 20 Jun 2012 08:46:37 -0700
A few personal observations on ROCstock and ROCtober:
When ROC first decided to hold ROCtober, five years ago, the idea
behind it was a bit selfish. We had been having more and more youth
groups coming to ROCstock, and the lines at the RSO tables kept getting
longer and longer. We decided to expand our October launch with the
idea of inviting all of the various scout and other youth groups to
ROCtober, to hopefully relieve some of the "pressure" on ROCstock.
Well, our little plan backfired on us, but in the best possible way.
At every ROCtober, we get a huge number of "newbie" kids, who have
never flown -- or in many cases, even seen -- rockets before. They
inevitably have a lot of fun, and their first question is always, "when
can we come back and do this again?". As a result, every November, many
of those kids come back, usually with their parents this time instead of
just their youth group leaders. Once the parents see the "big stuff",
many of them go on to join ROC and NAR or TRA, and get certified as HPR
flyers. Even if they don't become ROC and/or NAR/TRA members, they at
least see what a great time their kids have at our launches, and many of
them keep bringing those kids back to subsequent launches.
My personal opinion is that I would like this to continue. I think
that the "one-two punch" of ROCtober and November ROCstock has brought
many new flyers into the hobby, and new members into ROC, NAR and TRA.
ROC is a non-profit organization with a scientific and educational
mission. These launches do a great job of helping us reach out to the
next generation, and introduce them to a hobby that makes learning about
science painless and fun.
It *is* a lot of work running two multi-day launches in a row. We *do*
need the help of lots of volunteers to set up, run, and clean up after
these launches. But, I personally feel that it's worth the effort, and
I would personally vote to keep both launches.
I look forward to hearing your perspectives.
Cheers,
- Rick Dickinson
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