Richland One BLAST Aerospace Magnet Programs

Thank you to everyone who joined us for the BLAST Aerospace Festival at W. A. Perry Middle School on 3/21/26! Our community came together for an incredible day filled with hands‑on activities, STEM challenges, and aerospace‑themed fun for all ages. 🛩️🔭 A special thank‑you to our amazing community partners for supporting our students and helping make this event unforgettable. Richland County Sheriff's Department, South Carolina ETV, South Carolina Historic Aviation Foundation, Rocketry South Carolina, AINautics, Richland Library, USC Molinaroli College of Engineering and Computing, South Carolina State Museum, The STEM Lab, Tuskeegee Airmen Spann Watson Chapter, and SC Bricks LUG!

Join us at W. A. Perry Middle School on Saturday, March 21 from 11 AM–2 PM for the Richland One BLAST Aerospace Festival!
This free, community-wide event will feature hands-on aerospace and STEM activities plus food trucks and fun for all ages. Bring your family and come explore, learn, and launch into something new!

Congratulations to BLAST Magnet’s Team No Cap on winning the Judges’ Award at this weekend’s first state robotics competition. Well done!

What a great night at our **Watkins-Nance BLAST Family STEM Match Madness!** 🚀🏀

Families explored hands-on STEM stations, enjoyed the GameTruck, grabbed food from local food trucks, and wrapped up the night with an epic **Parents vs. Students basketball game**.

The students brought the energy and took the win! 🏆 It was amazing to see our BLAST community learning, laughing, and competing together.

Thank you to everyone who came out to make the night such a success! 💙

BLAST Family Night at W. A. Perry Middle School was a hit! Families jumped into hands‑on STEM fun with make‑and‑take drones, balloon hovercrafts, and glowing LED constellations. Thanks to everyone who came out to learn, build, and explore together!

W. A. Perry Middle School is so proud of the First Robotics team, the Eaglebots, for competing in the Regional Qualifier this weekend! 🤖🦅
While they didn’t advance to the State Finals this year, our students represented our school with incredible teamwork, innovation, and perseverance. They problem-solved under pressure, supported one another through every match, and showed true grit from start to finish.
Way to go, Eaglebots! 💙

BLAST Scholars in Aerospace visited the American Airlines division of Aeronautical Engineering. Here, students explored careers in aviation and received a behind-the-scenes tour. Let’s continue to encourage them as they dare to dream beyond boundaries.

Watkins-Nance BLAST would like to give a huge THANK YOU to a colleague for the sweet suggestion! 💗
For this week’s Thankful Thursday, BLAST delivered “Room Service” Valentine’s treats to our amazing teachers and staff. ❤️🍫
We appreciate all that you do each and every day for our students. It was such a joy to spread a little extra love down the hallways today! 💕

Yessss 🔥 This is what community looks like!
Watkins-Nance BLAST hosted Doughnuts with BLAST Dads this morning, and let me tell you — it was an AMAZING turnout! 🍩⚡️
Our BLAST dads didn’t just grab a doughnut and head out… oh no. They rolled up their sleeves and jumped right into a hands-on circuit challenge with their students! 💡🔋 Watching fathers and father figures problem-solve, build, test, and celebrate those “it works!” moments together was everything.
There’s something powerful about seeing STEM learning connect families like this. Smiles, teamwork, a little friendly competition, and a whole lot of pride filled the room this morning.
Thank you to all of our BLAST dads for showing up and showing OUT! We love creating spaces where learning and family engagement go hand in hand. 💙🚀

W. A. Perry Middle School enjoyed an all-day STEAM Day on Friday. 🚀✨
Students were immersed in space-themed learning in every block, building solar-powered Mars rover models, tackling STEM challenges like the space tether (paper chain), constructing tensegrity models, and designing their own mission patches.
A full day of creativity, collaboration, and problem-solving—STEAM in action from launch to landing! 🌍🛰️