This is the ninth of 20 profiles of The Gazette’s Best and Brightest Class of 2017.

Shepherd Kruse loves rockets. In fact, he has even experimented with making rocket fuel in his mother’s kitchen by mixing sugar and potassium nitrate. It even worked after a few attempts. He will point that he hasn’t caused kitchen explosions or emergencies.

“My passion all throughout high school and before that has just been exploring engineering and more specifically rockets and anything that flies,” said Kruse, a home school student.

Kruse has taken this love of rockets and shared it by helping to mentor others. During his junior year, he ran a Rocket Boys Camp at his home that was all about rockets, physics and how things fly. He helped 15-20 boys build rockets and most of them went off when they launched them at the end of the three-day camp. Kruse ran the whole camp with the encouragement of his family.

“Mostly my parents discovered I had a passion [for rockets] when I was younger,” he said. This is what spurred him to continue learning. “Being home-schooled lets me pursue my passions.”

Kruse takes some classes at home and others at Pikes Peak Community College, but he has been home-schooled for all his life and said he has learned through experiences.

“I actually really enjoy it,” Kruse said. “It allows me the freedom I need to pursue different things that normal school wouldn’t.” Kruse said he can learn creatively and that his mom has really done a great job. He said she believes that if you can teach a child to love learning, then they will be successful and enjoy school.

“I’ve been taught to love to learn,” he said.

Kruse has always lived in Colorado. In 2013, he and he family lost everything during the Black Forest Fire. As the middle child of nine, Kruse was away at a baseball game with everyone and they didn’t have time to go home and evacuate. They relocated to Flying Horse while their home was rebuilt in the exact same space.

“We’ve really been able to bounce back from that,” he said. “It taught me that everything that I am defined by is not by the possessions I own, but the stuff I do, the people I know and the people who know me.”

Next year Kruse is hoping to study in the field of aerospace engineering and he is looking forward to spending time with the types of people who have the same interests.

“The thing I’m most excited about would be just being around others who are experienced in my field and willing to help me out.”

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