It’s an Isabella tradition.

The students on the football field have undergone the training and put in lots of time and effort. Now, they’re ready to…shoot rockets?

The scene at Bill Nabors Stadium on Thursday morning was much different than a fall Friday night as the field again provided the stage for the Isabella Rocket Club.

Students tested rockets they built in teams of three or four.

“Today, everybody is a rocket scientist,” science teacher Jay LeCroy said.

The school has been hosting such events since 1985, when the first rockets were shot up thanks to Hal Ellison. Lanis Robinson continued the tradition, and now it’s up to LeCroy.

LeCroy said his eighth-grade physical science class has been studying motion and physics the last nine weeks of the school year. The culmination of that portion of the class is rocket day.

The Chilton County 4-H provided some of the material necessary to build the rockets, a process that takes about a week.

The rockets are built from educational kits and launch using a black powder charge and electrical remote.

LeCroy said the rockets average 1,000 to 2,000 feet of elevation.

“We had a two-stage that went probably 2,500,” he said. “When that second engine fired, we lost it. We don’t know where it went.”