Published: May 05, 2008 02:32 pm         

High school rocket club to compete in national fly-off

They bicker back and forth and tease each other like brothers and sisters during their meetings. It may seem like fun and games, but these six students from Stone Memorial High School in Crossville recently qualified to compete in the national finals of the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), the world’s largest and most prestigious model rocket contest.

According to TARC officials, more than 6,000 students on 643 teams from across the U.S. attempted to meet the contest’s requirements, but only the top scoring teams qualified to compete in the national contest. The Stone Memorial High School team is the only team to qualify from Tennessee.

"I took Mr. Tatum's innovations and inventions class, we built rockets and I really enjoyed it so I decided to join the rocket club," said Sara Donnan. "It's really interesting and fun.

Other student members include Nicolas Sebok, Bradley Thomas, Judy Smith, Ashley Sebastian and Alex Walker.

Sebok, the team's project manager, said he is looking forward to the trip to Great Meadow, in The Plains, Virginia, for the national fly-off on May 17.

Sebok hopes the team can place among the top ten.

"My father and I did rockets together and I took the innovations and inventions class and it really sounded fun," Sebok said. "The most difficult problem to overcome is the safe descent of the rocket’s payload." Sebok said.

Qualifying for the national fly-off was no simple task.

The event involves designing and building a model rocket 3.3 pounds or less, using National Association of Rocketry-certified model rocket motors.

The contest requires that students design, build and test fly a model rocket that can remain aloft for as close to 45 seconds total flight duration and reach 750 feet maximum flight altitude with a payload of two raw eggs and successfully parachute the eggs back to the ground unbroken.

The top ten teams will share a prize pool of $60,000 in cash. The winning team will also receive a free trip to the Farnborough Air Show near London, England, in July.

Scholarships are also awarded to top contestants.

Team advisor Tommy Tatum, Stone Memorial High School technology engineering instructor, said the contest is an excellent opportunity for students to learn first-hand lessons in aerodynamics in a non-classroom setting.

"They apply concepts of physics such as computing trajectory and eliminating aerodynamic drag to their models and see immediate results," Tatum said. "There’s deep satisfaction in knowing that things you’ve learned are helping launch something into the sky. This brings these concepts home to the real world for the students. I’m so proud of these kids, they are the only team from Tennessee to qualify," Tatum said.

The project had the teams building rockets in a manner not too different from the way professionals do it. Tatum says the contest promotes leadership, teamwork, delegation of tasks and group decisions. He emphasized that it is a group effort and every student has a specific part in the team's success.

"I'm very excited about it. I didn't think we'd make it, but we did. We were all kind of shocked," Sebok said.

Sebok said they started building their model rocket in January at the beginning of the semester. The rocket is built out of reinforced tubing, balsa wood and basswood.

"The team usually meets two days per week. But now that they are building their second model – a duplicate – we will start meeting more frequently to get the model done," Tatum said. "The students design and build the rocket."

Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) is an aerospace design and engineering event for teams of U.S. school students in 7th through 12th grades. It is run by the National Association of Rocketry (NAR) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA).

Teams can be sponsored by schools or by nonprofit youth organizations such as Scouts, 4-H, or Civil Air Patrol, but not the NAR or other rocketry organizations. The goal of TARC is to help motivate students to pursue aerospace as a career field. It is co-sponsored by the American Association of Physics Teachers, 4-H, the Department of Defense, and NASA.

Jim Kukowski, a Fairfield Glade resident who is retired from NASA, serves as the team's mentor for NAR.

"I don't advise them at all about specifications or design," Kukowski said. "I make sure they follow guidelines and these kids have done a remarkable job of coming together, working together and following the strict guidelines."

The teams for the national fly-off are selected based on the scores reported from qualification flights that they conduct locally. The Stone Memorial Rocket Club qualified last month after its flight.

"Our original model was great, but we hope this one is going to be even better," Sebok said.

Students were concentrating on working a few minor bugs out of the model and hoped it could improve their rocket's performance. The team hopes to complete the new model this week.

Although the team is excited about competing in the national event, there are many costs associated with participating. The team is planning fundraisers, but is also seeking local sponsors to help defray the cost of model components, hotel accommodations and travel to the Washington, D.C. area.

For more information about the event or for sponsorship information, contact the rocket club's high school advisor Tommy Tatum at 484-5767.