Under bright blue skies, teams of middle and high-school
students from across the country proved to one and all that they,
indeed, have the right stuff. With spectacular weather and some of
the finest professional and amateur rocket researchers and
hobbyists in the world to overlook the proceedings, the 2010 TARC
has been judged an unqualified success and we quite agree. A team
from Penn Manor High School in Millersville, PA, took first place
at the Eighth Annual TARC, Saturday, earning the title of national
champion.
The enthusiasm these talented students brought today was truly
electric. The four-member team won the world’s largest rocket
contest after spending months designing, building and test
launching their model rocket. The Team America Rocketry Challenge
kicked off last September with 669 teams from across the nation
vying for a chance to compete among the top 100 qualifying teams at
the finals held today outside of Washington, D.C.
The first place team logged the winning score of 26.32. Each
point represents a deviation from altitude and time aloft targets,
so the lower the score, the better. Marticville Middle School from
Pequea, PA, took second place with a score of 30.65, while Bob
Jones High School from Madison, Ala., placed third with a score of
31.02.
The first and second place teams belong to the same rocket club,
Penn Manor Rocket Club, and were mentored by Brian Osmolinski.
Osmolinski, a physics teacher and director of the rocket club,
helped mentor four teams to the national finals. Members of the
winning Penn Manor High School team are: Brendan Stoeckl, Jordan
Franssen, Nate Bernhardt, and Tyler Funk, who are all 12th
graders.
This year, student teams were challenged to design, build and
launch a model rocket to an altitude of 825 feet with a flight time
of 40-45 seconds, as well as return a raw egg payload to the ground
unbroken without a parachute. The contest, sponsored by the
Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of
Rocketry, is intended to spark students’ interest in
aerospace careers and in science, technology, engineering and
mathematics — or STEM — college degree programs. Almost
60 percent of the U.S. aerospace workforce is 45 or older and
beginning to retire in large numbers, according to AIA
statistics.
Lockheed Martin Corporation provides $5,000 scholarships to each
of the top three teams, and the top 20 teams also will receive an
invitation from NASA to participate in its Student Launch
Initiative, an advanced rocketry program. Other sponsors include
the Defense Department, the American Association of Physics
Teachers and AIA member companies. AIA created the Team America
Rocketry Challenge in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of flight
and to generate interest in aerospace careers among young people.
Since its inception, more than 50,000 youths have participated in
the contest.
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