Gower West Elementary teacher Rita Januszyk (left) watches as fourthgraders Tati Eicker (center) of Willowbrook and Nomada Dyglys of Willowbrook launch their straw rocket. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media
Gower West Elementary fourth-grader Jenna McClelland of Willowbrook makes sure the rocket launcher is aimed at 45 degrees before launching their staw rockets at the school. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media
Gower West Elementary fourth-graders (left to right) Zachary Fortuna of Willowbrook, John Fakouri of Burr Ridge and Diana Denemark of Willowbrook watch their rockets fly. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media
Gower West Elementary fourth-grader Brian Ngeunguntr of Burr Ridge adjusts his straw rocket before firing it. | Curtis Lehmkuhl~Sun-Times Media
WILLOWBROOK — For fourth-graders in Rita Januszyk’s class, rocket science is just part of the curriculum. “You are doing the things that rocket scientists do,” Januszyk told her students at Gower West Elementary School as they prepared to make the first of two rockets from …