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Student Rockets

http://youtu.be/SPVyC03NT-E

(LAS CRUCES) -- Middle and High School students from Southern New Mexico are learning about possible careers in the field of engineering.
 
After three days of developing and building, 14-year-old Savannah Jimenez is getting a chance to launch her very own rocket.
 
"I'm building a rocket with an egg in it and we have to compact it with some sort of packaging material so the egg won't break," she said.
 
Jimenez is part of the pre-freshman engineering program.  It's here where she learns about physics and mathematics which helps in coming up with a design.
 
"We're learning how to you know, make bottle rockets, aerodynamics and how they can go high and are needed to know what to pack the bottle rocket with so the egg won't break," she said.
 
Close to two hundred students from middle and high school are taking part in the PREP program.
 
"This is to promote STEM fields so, Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics.  This is specifically really focus on engineering and it's just to get students involved and interested in the STEM field that way post graduation they'll end up in a STEM field career," said Elizabeth Howard, co-director of PREP.
 
Rockets are made from soda bottles and paper.  Each rocket is powered by air and water and are able to reach 100 meters.  
 
Joshua: "We were given just the specifics, we need more weight and certain parts and they gave us our material and we just sent, we just know how to make it by instruction, simple instruction on how the things should be," said Joshua Rashe, 13, is with the program.
 
New Mexico State University's College of Engineering has organized the program since 1997.

Carlos Correa previously served as KRWG's News Director. He covered stories throughout the area, and previously anchored the weekly program Fronteras-A Changing America, which airs Thursday at 7:30pm, Saturday at 5:30pm, and Sunday at 11:30am on KRWG-TV.