Brian Osmolinski is no rocket scientist, but …

No, wait. He is.

Well, he's the next best thing. Osmolinski teaches physics at Penn Manor High School, where a team of his students just showed the world how to launch and land a 30-inch-tall rocket without disturbing its fragile cargo — a fresh, unboiled egg.

The Penn Manor rocketry team, which won the national title in May, beat top squads from France and England at the Transatlantic Rocketry Challenge eight days ago.

The team was warmly introduced by a representative of the Aerospace Industries Association, the trade association representing major American aerospace and defense manufacturers, Osmolinski said.

"And I thought, wow, they noticed us," he said.

"We're just up in a cornfield, launching rockets in the snow and the mud and the muck, and they noticed. And now, this little team from Millersville, Pa., is representing America."

Osmolinski, 29, has taught physics at Penn Manor for five years. The Altoona native, a graduate of Indiana University of Pennsylvania, answered an online ad for the position — and he said his own difficulties with science might have landed the job.

"My first two years (in college) were horribly difficult. I was struggling," he said.

Osmolinski said he made a last-minute decision to major in physics education because he enjoyed science in school.

"But it turned out I didn't like physics," he said. "It was hard. I was like, 'My God, what have I done?'

"Then, all of a sudden, things started clicking. I could see how things worked, and I was applying it to my life."

The experience made Osmolinski a better teacher, he said.

"I understand the difficulties," he said. "I was that struggling kid in the back who just didn't get it. Now I can help those kids."

That "click" is key, he said.

"Kids tell me they're doing something totally unrelated to physics, maybe working on the family farm, and something from class suddenly comes back to them and they understand how something works.

"In education, that's a success."

•••

Osmolinski uses hands-on activities to help kids click.

"I'm the teacher whose kids are rolling bowling balls down hallways or dropping things off the stadium," he said.

Those activities help teach concepts like graphing motion, force, acceleration and protecting an egg from the crushing force of an 800-foot drop.

"You have to spend time thinking about physics, not just doing homework," Osmolinski said. "You need to apply it to your life."

Osmolinski also developed an advanced-placement physics program that consistently posts scores above state and national averages. Those students are now reporting "easy A's" in college "and, more importantly, they like what they're doing," he said.

"I tell students, 'You're going to see the world differently. You're going to be walking down the hallway and seeing vectors in your heads,' " Osmolinski said. "That's when you know you got it."

Sometimes, he said, it's just a matter of helping students make a connection.

"Maybe it will help you catch a football," he said. "Or you take a turn a little too fast — you can understand why your car is skidding, and maybe you can use that to get it back under control. Physics could save your life."

Osmolinski said three key strategies keep his students involved:

• Embrace your subject.

"The memorable teachers are the ones who … get all nerdy and geeky about the subject matter," he said.

• Provide a challenging framework.

"Kids have to be able to make some decisions," he said. "I don't tell them what to do. I tell them where they need to go, and they have to figure out how to get there.

"Some will get it right away. Some will take a few months. I tell them, I'll help them every step of the way — if they ask for it. Some kids don't know how to ask for help. That's part of growing up."

• Care.

"Kids want teachers who care about them," he said. "But it has to be genuine. You can't fake it. Kids can smell a phony."

While some educators fret that American students score low in the sciences, Osmolinski said he's confident they can compete in a global market.

"In a lot of education systems, free thought — hands-on problem solving — isn't encouraged," he said. "We might be behind in test scores, but I think we're ahead in problem solving."

His rocketry team, for example, arrived in England to find a rocket fin had warped en route.

With most of their equipment back home in Millersville, the situation looked bleak — but for a little local ingenuity. Students used Baby Wipes, available at the hotel, to saturate the fin, then hung the rocket by its fin overnight.

By morning, the proud coach said, the fin was straight.

tknapp@lnpnews.com