The University of Tennessee Space Institute recently hosted approximately 300 eighth graders from East Middle School, West Middle School and St. Paul Catholic School. Divided into several smaller groups, the eighth graders toured the labs at UTSI and launched bottle rockets as part of the Minds in Motion program. Shown above, girls listen as UTSI graduate research assistants Joel Thompson and Nick Lister explain how the bottle rocket experiment works. Below, East Middle boys Jonathon Dorsett, Michael Shipp, Spencer Lynn and DeAndre Carter look on as Brandon Weddington and UTSI graduate research assistant Will Robinson prepare the bottle rocket for launch.

–UTSI Photos by Tony Saad and Shanna Relford