Some Santa Maria Valley high school science teachers and their newest students launched the year’s lessons a bit early. 

Marking its fourth year, “Rocketing Into High School” took place Tuesday and Wednesday at Pioneer Valley High School. 

While held at the PVHS campus on the northeast side of Santa Maria, the program also involved teachers and students from the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District’s three campuses, including Righetti High and Santa Maria High. 

The ninth-graders volunteered to show up at school days early to study rockets and other science lessons, according to Riccardo Magni, chair of the PVHS science department.

On Wednesday, the students gathered on a field behind PVHS to launch their work — model rockets built as part of the program. 

After a model rocket hesitated to lift off and later whistled while racing upward, a group of girls jumped, screamed and laughed. 

“There’s nothing like some good screaming to get it going,” Magni said.

Although more students initially signed up, about 30 participated in the program aimed at igniting their interest in science ahead of the 2024-25 school year.

“This is the best set of kids we’ve ever had. These kids are super smart, they’re self-starters, they’re all in,” Magni said. “A lot of them want to study science in the future. It’s great.”

PVHS graduate-turned-teacher Nikki Knowlson, beginning her seventh year, didn’t have an opportunity to participate in a similar program when she attended the school with the class of 2008. 

As a teacher for science classes filled with ninth-graders, she said the program is valuable so the students have some friendly faces for their first day at the larger campuses. 

The district’s three comprehensive high schools each have about 3,000 students in ninth through 12th grades.

“I love it because the kids get to meet students that are going to other high schools,” she said. “Or they came from different junior high (schools), so they’re meeting new people and they’re able to meet kids who are also coming to the same school.”

Along with the teachers from the three campuses, this year’s program integrated junior high teachers from the Santa Maria-Bonita School District, Magni said.

To help spread the word about the program, the high school science teachers reached out to the Santa Maria-Bonita junior high schools and other districts to share about the program.

Arellanes Junior High School graduate Jose Garcia, who will attend Santa Maria High, said that when he heard about the program it seemed like it would be fun. 

“I like a lot of the stuff with rockets. I can see them coming out of Vandenberg from where I live, so it just looked really cool to come and do this,” he said, adding that he wants to pursue a career in aerospace engineering.

“It’s really fun. I liked it,” he added.

The first day of school for the high school district is Aug. 15, which also is the beginning for students in the Santa Maria-Bonita School District, which has about 17,000 students from transitional kindergarten through eighth grade.