MULBERRY GROVE, Illinois USA — One of the smallest schools in the country's biggest model rocket contest isn't nervous one bit.

Actually, Mulberry Grove High School has been here before. For the second year in a row, the rural school of 146 qualified for next week's Aerospace Industries Association Team America Rocketry Challenge in Virginia.

The school, on a country road across from a horse stable, is in the elite company of 100 teams. Seventeen from Illinois tried to qualify, and only five got in. None of the 14 Missouri teams made it. Mulberry Grove is the only school representing Southern Illinois.

But beating the other teams isn't a big deal, the team said. The competition is more internal, and all the teams face the same challenge: launch a rocket that will reach 850 feet, make the flight last 45 seconds, and, whatever you do, make sure the cargo — an egg — can parachute back down without breaking. Advertisement

This isn't really a competition against other schools — not even the much bigger ones.

"They're all too far away to brag to anyway," said team member Amanda Wuehler, a junior. "Big things come in small packages."

That's not to say there isn't some sense of accomplishment, though, said teammate Kaitlin Stone, also a junior.

"It does make you feel a little better because we know that even though we're small, we still can compete," Stone said.

But the Mulberry Grove students have bigger things to worry about. Some of the team members work as many as 30 hours a week. And the trip will cost about $3,000. Despite working countless concession stands during sporting events and even doing some lawn care, the team is still $1,000 short. And they leave Thursday.

One engine left

But the eight-student team appears calm. The students have faced unkind, untimely forces before. They were down to their last hour of qualifying and had only one rocket engine left.

The team got clearance from the FAA to try to qualify in the days leading up to Easter. But that week was one of the coldest on record for that time of year. And winds exceeded the 20 mph limit.

In one test flight, part of their rocket ended up in a tree. They had a spare, but it didn't get close to 850 feet. So, with an Aerospace Industries Association representative there on that Sunday to certify the launch, the team blasted its last engine into space with about 50 minutes left to qualify.

The flight ended up being their best yet. They made the finals with a flight of 860 feet and 45.05 seconds. And the egg was safe and sound. Teamwork was the reason, members said.

"We all know each other, and we're all OK with each other," senior Christine Weber said. "So we're not at all feuding. Not all the time anyway."

Senior Michelle Thole said: "It's just basic quarrels. You have your fights. Any kind of team has them. Eventually, people get on with it."

Although this team said their nerves were in check, Aerospace Industries Association spokesman Matt Grimison said he saw a different scene on competition day.

"It's nerve-racking for the teams," he said. "Some are pacing. The real anticipation is when they hand the rocket over to technicians to place it on the launch pad. You can see the anticipation in their faces as they're counting down. All their hard work, it all comes down to that one moment.

"It's definitely a charged atmosphere all day long."

Three Mulberry Grove seniors started the team last year. They added five members who returned to form the nucleus of this year's team. The idea was to give the kids who don't play sports an extracurricular activity.

"Smart kids need things, too," said Stone. "Not all of us do sports and athletics."

And indeed, these are the smart kids. They're all on the scholar bowl team. Thole is this year's valedictorian. Weber is the salutatorian. The others are tops in their class.

John Paine, whose son Ryan is on the team, is the team sponsor. And math teacher. And scholar bowl coach. And physics teacher. And school technical coordinator.

"He's really the one who has helped us with all of this," Weber said. "He's put in so much time."

Estimates vary on just how much time. Some team members say they spent 100 hours of their free time flying rockets. Other say 300. And Paine was always there.

"But these kids are the ones who do it all," Paine said. "I'm just here if they have any questions or need something. But they motivate themselves."

'A wing and a prayer'

Mulberry Grove, population 700, doesn't have a whole lot going on. There's a diner in town. A gas station, too. The interstate came through about 40 years ago and just about killed the town. Most people work elsewhere. Options are limited.

"Hunt. Fish. Just be redneck," said freshman team member Taylor Mosley, who knows opening day of deer season by heart. "We even get out of school for deer day."

The team leaves Thursday for Virginia. Their launch time is May 19 between 9 and 10 a.m. The three seniors, Weber, Thole and Nick Brown, along with Nathan Dennison, a junior, can't make the trip because of graduation. As one of the top two students in his class, Dennison has to help in the ceremony.

The top 10 teams will share a grand prize of more than $60,000 in scholarships and cash. Some of the top-placing teams are invited to take part in a NASA rocketry program.

There is some precedent for small schools' faring well. Last year's champs, from Statesville Christian Academy in Statesville, N.C., have a high school with about 30 fewer students than Mulberry Grove's.

But again, this isn't about winning, the students said. They'll just put their best rocket on the launch pad and hope for good things.

Said Weber, "It's all basically on a wing and a prayer."

Copyright © 2007, St. Louis Post-Dispatch.