Nine students from Wilson and Nash counties will head to Virginia to compete in the Team America Rocketry Challenge on May 19.

WILSON, North Carolina USA — The competition is considered the world's largest model rocket contest.

The students are members of Venture Crew 153, a co-educational group for teen-agers within the Boy Scouts of America. The competition, open to the top 100 model rocket teams in the country, will be held at Great Meadow, The Plains, Va., just outside of Washington, D.C.

Team members include Natalie Harrell, Virginia Harrell, Lydia DuSablon, Raphael DuSablon, Daniel Price, William Price, Brandon Manning, Heather Perry and Josiah Rex. Team supervisors are Sue Harrell, science teacher at Greenfield School in Wilson, and Tommy Harrell.

Venture Crew 153 rocket team members are (front) Virginia Harrell, Lydia DuSablon, Natalie Harrell, (back) Daniel Price, Josiah Rex, Brandon Manning and Raphael DuSablon. Not pictured are William Price, Heather Perry and Tommy Harrell. Photo: Sue Harrell.

"The contest is an excellent opportunity for students to learn hands-on lessons in aerodynamics in a non-classroom setting," said Sue Harrell. "Participants apply concepts of physics like computing trajectory and eliminating drag to their models and see the results immediately."
 
Unless the rocket misfires on the launch pad, the team has one chance to see how close their rocket can come to flying for 45 seconds to a maximum altitude of 850 feet. The rocket must then parachute back to the ground and land without breaking its payload — one raw, Grade A large egg. For each foot and second a rocket is off, points are added. The altitude and time are monitored by an onboard altimeter.

Venture Crew 153's team had two chances to qualify for the national competition. Both launches had to be witnessed by members of the National Association of Rocketry. The team submitted the results from the two launches and beat out more than 500 other teams to qualify.

Harrell said the students attend public and private schools and are "across the board" in terms of their aptitude. She said some of the students are good in science and math while others are more artistic and others are detail oriented. The more artistic team members designed the team's T-shirt and decals for the rockets. More detail-oriented students are good at packing the parachutes for the rockets. Harrell said the students have their different gifts.

The students decided who would do which jobs on the team.

Each student designed a rocket. Computer flight simulations were done. The best designed rockets were then built and tested. The team practices at a launch site in Battleboro once per month.

"The best part about this contest is working as a group to launch something that doesn't explode," Rex said.

Natalie Harrell, the team's captain, said she's looking forward to the team's trip and expects they will place among the top 10 teams.

"The most difficult problem to overcome will be the wind factor," Natalie Harrell said.

Unless the students ask for help, the adult supervisors are not allowed to do anything.

Sue Harrell said they are looking forward to seeing what they can do at the competition. The top 10 teams will share $60,000 in savings bonds and cash. The winning team can continue to an international competition in Paris.

Anyone interested in helping the team cover some of its travel and rocket-building costs can contact Sue Harrell at 252-235-4347. The team is trying to raise around $500.

Copyright © 2007, The Wilson Daily Times.