Students Celebrate Mary W. Jackson's Birthday by Launching Rockets

On Friday, April 9, students at Mary W. Jackson Elementary commemorated what would have been former NASA engineer and mathematician Mary W. Jackson’s 100th birthday with special science lessons, including the mechanics of rocket building, and ended the day by launching rockets on the school playground.

Mary W. Jackson Elementary is Salt Lake City’s oldest elementary school and was renamed in 2018 in honor of the former NASA engineer and mathematician. Out of the 383 students enrolled at the Title I school this year, 80.2% come from a minority racial or ethnic background, 85.12% are from low-income households, 6.53% are experiencing homelessness (as defined by the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act), and nearly half of the students are Multi-Language Learners. The school was recognized last fall by the Utah State Board of Education as a Utah School of Excellence in the achievement of their students learning English.