Missouri University of Science & Technology’s annual explosives camp is a blast for high schoolers from across the country. The school, in central Missouri’s Rolla, held the unique camp last week to allow students to learn about shooting dynamite, detonators, underground blast work, demolition, and fireworks displays.
Photo courtesy of Mike Pierce, Missouri S&T
Students from as far as Hawaii, Las Vegas, and the east coast braved Missouri’s dog days of summer to take part in the week-long camp.
Alex Delgado came the furthest to participate – all the way from Hawaii.
“I’ve always been interested in demolition, either that or engineering. So I flew over here, like a little over 16-17 hours,” says Delgado.
Bo Bryan came from Las Vegas to get some hands-on experience.
“When I was about 12 or 13, they had an aerospace camp. At the same time, they had one of these explosives camps. I’ve always wanted to do this since then,” says Bryan.
Michael Cook, of St. Louis, says the camp has helped him to consider what career path he wants to pursue when he graduates.
“It has given me way more insight on the explosives industry,” says Cook. “He was talking about construction and then yesterday we were talking about how they are used in mining.”
Photo courtesy of Mike Pierce, Missouri S&T
Dr. Paul Worsey has been leading the one-of-a-kind camp since 2005. He says his favorite part is whatever makes the kids smile the most.
“From camp to camp, it changes. This is the 35th camp that we’ve run for high school kids,” says Worsey. “This is a smorgasbord of what we do here. Each of these items we have in a particular class that we teach here in explosives engineering or mining engineering.”
Dr. Gillian Worsey also pitches in at the camp. She teaches the explosives regulations class at Missouri S&T.
“On Sunday, they learn about stage pyrotechnics. So, the special effects that they use in the movie and the theater industry. We teach them all about mining explosives. We talk about detonators, various different types of explosives which they get to handle themselves and set off themselves,” she says.
To hear the full package aired on Missourinet’s daily radio show, called Show Me Today, click below.
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