The summer schedule for seven Russellville High School students changed dramatically Saturday when the students were crowned national champions at the Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) in The Plains, Virginia.
Chelsea Suddith, Evan Swinney, Andrew Heath, Katie Burns, Niles Butts, Cady Studdard and Cristian Ruiz soared past 100 other teams at the TARC National Finals. The event was held at Great Meadow, a 250-acre field events center and steeplechase course 45 miles from Washington, D.C.
As a result, Russellville High School will represent the United States at the International Rocketry Challenge next month. They will compete against teams from France, Great Britain and Japan for the international title.
And, oh by the way, the International Finals will be held in Paris, France, at the annual Paris Air Show.
“We're all really excited about that trip,” Ruiz said. “And no parents will be there. It's just for students and our faculty sponsor."
Conceived in 2003 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight, TARC has grown into an annual event that attracted more than 700 teams across the country this year. The top 100 teams were selected from state competitions and invited to compete in last weekend's TARC National Finals.
Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Association of Rocketry and several aerospace and defense companies, TARC is open to students in grades 7-12 interested in designing, building and launching model rockets in a national competition.
Ruiz explained that competition consists of students building and launching a model rocket that carries one raw egg to an altitude of 800 feet. The rocket must stay in the air for 46-48 seconds before the portion of the rocket carrying the egg and altimeter safely returns to the ground. Competition rules also require students to safely recover the rest of the rocket using a recovery device of their choice.
“Like golf, the lowest score wins,” Ruiz said. “For every foot above or below the required height it's one point and for every second above or below the required time range, it's four points.”
Mark Keeton, a seventh-grade English teacher at Russellville Middle School, serves as the team's faculty sponsor. Keeton said all 100 teams launched a rocket in the first round at nationals. The 42 top-scoring schools advanced to the second round. Russellville scored 12 on its first launch and then an amazing four on the second launch to clinch the national title.
“We knew we had 16 but had no clue how well other teams did,” Keeton said. “But as they progressed and announced the top 24 scores, then the top 10 with scores still in the 40s, we felt pretty confident.
“We knew we'd placed in the top two, and when they announced the second-place finisher we started flipping out with the realization we had in fact won."
The top 10 teams share a pool of more than $60,000 in scholarships and prizes. Lockheed Martin provides the scholarship funding. As of Sunday night, Keeton had not received final confirmation on the amount of his students' prizes, pending further information from event coordinators.
The Paris trip, though, won't cost the students a dime. Raytheon will sponsor the team's trip to the international competition. Paris in June with all expenses paid. Sounds like a nice summer for seven students who began TARC competition against nearly 200 Alabama schools.
Victory came at the state level. And the students had high expectations as they flew to Washington D.C. last Thursday.
“We hoped to get into the Top 10. All of those teams get money for scholarships. I've been in TARC for three years, and it's been at our school for about five years,” Ruiz said. “We've never made it to nationals before this year.”
With its championship, RHS became one of a handful of teams to win TARC's national competition on its first attempt.
In addition to Keeton, RHS students also worked with mentor Tracy Burns from United Launch Alliances. The rockets were constructed from pieces ordered from an approved model rocket site along with parts designed by the students on computer.
The TARC experience will benefit not only the students' resumes but also Russellville City Schools with the exposure brought from the championship.
“The international competition will be a great learning experience and will help in getting our names out there for colleges,” Ruiz said. “And we'll be letting people know about Russellville all over the world.”
