CLEARWATER, Florida USA — “5…4…3…2…1” With a loud WHOOOSH! the rocket shot off the launch tower into the air over the North Greenwood branch of the Clearwater library system. “There it is!” said David Stoner, pointing skyward at a speck beginning to fall.

Photo by ANNE W. ANDERSON From left, Librarian David Stoner puts the launch tower together as Austin Vecchio, 12, of Belleair, Logan, 11, and Wesley Wood, 14, of Palm Harbor, watch. The youths participated in a summer program on model rockets at North Greenwood.

Stoner, branch manager of the library, watched as brothers Logan, 11, and Wesley, 14, Wood, both of Palm Harbor, chased across the field to catch the cardboard rocket dangling under the plastic parachute before it hit the ground.

The boys, along with C.J. Kibitlewski, 6, C.J.’s sister Shelle, 15, both of Palm Harbor, and Austin Vecchio, 12, of Belleair, built the rockets recently in the last of four sessions Stoner offered at the library this summer.

Originally, the program was scheduled for Monday, Tuesday, and Friday afternoons because of his schedule, Stoner said.

“But it depends on the kids’ schedules, too. And they don’t want to wait until Friday; they want to get going and launch these things!”

Stoner said he started teaching students to build rockets 16 years ago as a teacher in Ohio.

“In study hall the kids would be bored stiff and get into trouble, so I started a rocket club,” Stoner said.

When Stoner became North Greenwood branch manager this past February, he spotted the big, open field next door and behind Jack Russell Stadium, perfect for launching small model rockets to a height of 200 to 300 hundred feet using small solid-fuel engines and an electronic igniting system.

Stoner displayed some of his own collection of model rockets, pictures of real rocket launches and space vehicles in the front display case, and made fliers advertising a rocket class. The program was originally offered to middle and high school students, but Stoner said, younger siblings were welcomed, too.

That was the case with C.J. Kibitlewski, whose sister signed up after seeing the program advertised at the main library in downtown Clearwater.

“(Stoner) was so nice, so patient,” said Jan Kibitlewski, C.J. and Shelle’s mother. “And C.J. loved it – he has his rocket hanging in his room.”

Each student received a model rocket kit containing a cardboard tube, cardboard rings, balsa wood fins, a plastic nose cone, plastic parachute, strings and cords. Over two days, the students glued the fins on and put the engine seat together, then spray-painted them.

Stoner advertised space movies and popcorn while the glue dried which, he said, worked with some groups but not others. In all four sessions, Stoner said he had about 34 participants, not including bystanders attracted on launch days.

Neighborhood residents came to the earlier sessions, Stoner said. The last session attracted more students from outside the area.

Books weren’t emphasized in the program, but Stoner didn’t let many opportunities for learning pass untaken.

“What would happen if we put the fins here?” asked Logan Wood, who said he wants to be an inventor, during the painting session.

Stoner talked about stability.

“It’s part of Newton’s law,” Stoner said. “ ‘To every action ... ’ ”

“there’s an equal and opposite reaction,” Shelle said, finishing the sentence.

Stoner also said he sees rocketry as a way to draw kids into the library.

“After doing this, the kids tend to come back (to the library) to see what else is going on,” Stoner said.

For more information about model rockets and real rockets, Stoner suggested looking in the 629 nonfiction section of the library, or ask a librarian.