Updated May 21 with results of the competition
Students from Festus High School are celebrating a top-5 finish at the American Rocketry Challenge on Sunday.
The team, led by teacher Devin Lorenz, placed fourth of the more than 900 teams at the competition, which required students to build a rocket that could carry an egg to a specific altitude, stay airborne for a period of time, and then bring the egg safely back to the ground.
The result earned each team member $1,000, plus another $1,000 for the school. They also will get to participate in NASA鈥檚
Original story from May 13
Hundreds of teenagers from across the country will be in Washington, D.C., this weekend to launch model rockets 鈥� and more than a dozen kids from the St. Louis area are among them.
Teams from Fox and Festus high schools, and Seckman Middle School, are among the finalists in the American Rocketry Challenge. The competition requires students to build a rocket that can carry an egg to a specific altitude, stay airborne for a period of time, then bring the egg safely back to the ground.
鈥淚t鈥檚 designed to give an outlet to kids who are interested in STEM and to inspire kids who don't yet know they're interested in STEM,鈥� said Eric Fanning, president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association, a sponsor of the competition.
Junior Erin Anderson is one of those students who is already interested in a career in science 鈥� her dream job is to be an aerospace engineer. Anderson competed in the finals last year, but the team at Northwest High School, in a neighboring district, went dormant when its sponsor left. This year, she is one of the captains of the Fox team, acting as a 鈥渢hird teacher.鈥�
鈥淭he coolest thing is all the terminologies, because it鈥檚 just cool to use,鈥� Anderson said, adding that she likes to show off in physics class by 鈥渦sing the big fancy terms, and the teacher is trying to teach the other kids the layman鈥檚 terms.鈥�
Like Anderson, Jack Kamradt is thinking about studying engineering in college. Kamradt, a seventh grader at Seckman Middle School, got interested in rockets in second grade and was part of the Seckman team last year.
That team didn鈥檛 make it to the finals.
鈥淲e messed up a little bit because some of the information we read wrong, so we built our rockets a little odd,鈥� Kamradt said. 鈥淏ut we were able to learn off of the stuff that we tried last year that didn't work. We have new designs for our nose cones and fins.鈥�
Kamradt said even if his team doesn鈥檛 win the national competition, he鈥檒l still have fun learning from other teams and getting to see the monuments.
Unlike Anderson and Kamradt, Fox sophomore Paige Metcalf was not into rockets when she joined the team.
鈥淏efore, I was more into biology and stuff,鈥� she said. 鈥淢ath is just not my strong suit.鈥�
But Metcalf enjoyed having the coach, Thomas Laybourn, as her chemistry teacher and said that made it a 鈥渘o-brainer鈥� when he asked her to participate.
鈥淣ow I feel a lot more comfortable with this sort of STEM, so that鈥檚 pretty cool,鈥� she said, adding that she will 鈥渁bsolutely鈥� join the team next year as well.
It鈥檚 the first year that Fox High School has fielded a team in the competition, and Laybourn says he is stunned it's among the 100 to attend the national finals.
鈥淏ut I just knew they could do it. I just didn't know they could do it this effectively,鈥� he said.
Laybourn, who learned about the competition at a science convention, said even students who don't go into STEM fields in college or beyond benefit from it.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e learning problem solving. They鈥檙e learning leadership. More than anything, they鈥檙e learning confidence,鈥� he said. 鈥淭he confidence level that I see in these guys from when they start out to just the end of the year is mind blowing, and so rewarding.鈥�
In addition to the students from Fox, Seckman and Festus, Center High School in Kansas City and Richards R5 School District in West Plains, Missouri, will also be in Washington this weekend.
The winner of the national finals gets to compete in the international challenge in England. In addition, the top 25 teams get to attend
