Whiz Kid: Roeper Junior Wins Spot on Spacemodeling Team

Patch spotlights young people in the Birmingham community who are successful, talented and just plain awesome. Today we introduce the latest Whiz Kid:

Emma Kristal

• Age: 15
• School:
• Achievement: Kristal has qualified as a member of the 2012 U.S. spacemodeling team for her second consecutive World Spacemodeling Championship, to be held in September 2012 in Mikulas, Slovakia.
  
  The World Spacemodeling Championship is organized under the auspices of the Federation Aeronautique Internationale (FAI), the governing body for international aviation sports, including spacemodeling and aeromodeling. The World Spacemodeling Championships are held every two years. The championship lasts a week, and each day's competition ends with an Olympic-style medal ceremony.
• Key to awesomeness: Kristal, a Birmingham resident, qualified for the competition in August in Lebanon, OH, where she flew in a number of events and qualified for the team in the altitude and scale modeling events.
  
  At the 2012 World Spacemodeling Championship, Kristal will be flying updated versions of her altitude models and will spend the next year building a detailed, accurately-scaled, flying model of the Mercury Little Joe 1, which flew in 1961. The Little Joe was used to test the escape system for America's first astronauts and is a favorite of rocketeers because it looks so unusual. Kristal's model will fly with six rocket motors in two stages.
  
  “Emma’s knowledge of rocketry and skills in rocket building are very impressive and allowed Emma to be an asset to her classmates during our coverage of that material,” Kristal’s science teacher at Roeper Wendy Mayer said.
  
  Kristal has been flying rockets since she was 6 years old and has been participating in U.S. model rocketry competitions since she was 10. She is a member of the National Association of Rocketry and has won local, regional and national events. At 15, she currently holds two United States model rocketry records.

Do you know a local young person who deserves applause for volunteer work this summer or for challenging how we think about the environment? Maybe academic, artistic or athletic achievements are worth sharing. Everyone deserves attention, and we want to tell these stories. Email any information and photos to Laura.Houser@patch.com.