UncleVanya

Even the teams that finished in the bottom of the pack deserve an "atta boy" - each of these teams was in the top 100 overall before they flew anything at the finals. Having interacted with a number of teams over the last few years I know how quickly things can go from perfect to lousy when the official timers are turned on.

Congrats to all of the teams - and a special congrats to the NC teams. You did great - all of you.

TWRackers

A little clarification on the scores above for those who weren't there....

At the end of the first round, the best 18 scorers (in a different order, obviously) were given the opportunity to do a second flight to shoot for the top 10. The final results were based on the combined scores for both launches. This was to increase the odds that the winning teams were good rather than just really lucky.

Not sure why the 11th-18th place teams' scores are not summed in the posted results above, but it was the two-round totals for all 18 teams that determined the winners.

I think everyone had a great time there. I just wish the line for the barbecue afterwards hadn't been so long....

TWRackers

Just thought of a possible explanation: the final order of the teams in 11th through 18th places remains unaltered from the round one ordering. That would seem fair.

Trip Barber

The combined scores from two flights were used to determine which of the 18 flyoff-round participants finished in overall places 1-10. These were the places for which cash prizes were awarded. As we had laid out in the rules and briefed all the participants, teams 11-18 from the flyoffs reverted to their scores from the 1st flight to determine which of them finished in 11th through 18th places. We did this to avoid trying to figure out how to do a combined score from two flights for a team that had a DQ or a no-score (cato, altimeter failure, etc. -- there were no reflights allowed in the flyoff round) on their second flight. Fortunately, all 18 teams in the flyoff round had qualified flights, so this situation did not arise this year.

Trip Barber
NAR TARC Manager

ddmobley

Thanks, Trip. From the photos, it looked like a great event. Thanks again for all you do for the hobby...

H_rocket

It was one heck of an event. Trip takes herding cats and makes it look easy. However as part of the HPR demo team I'm still looking for the group of folks that were introduced as "some of the finest rocketeers in the nation." that would do the demonstration flights. Although I give him credit, he made Trip laugh.

As a four year mentor and three year volunteer, I encourge each and every member of the Rocketry Planet community to do what they can to support this venture.

jschm90

As a Member of the Enloe HS team that won the championship last Saturday, I want to congradulate everybody that made to the national finals. Everybody worked hard and had a great time.

ddmobley

Congratulations to your team for a job well done. You make all of us oldtimers proud with your youth, vitality and enthusiasm. And welcome to Rocketry Planet!

Astrosaint

Greetings:

A load of congratulations for Enloe High School ! Good luck in the U.K.

I do bring in some interesting news in regards to registering a team with TARC.
Here in Central Florida, several high school teachers reported an inability to try out for TARC. The reason for this was because either the science department or the the principal would not back the team. The TARC contest is viewed as a expense that would take money away from other student projects such as the football team, cheerleading, the band, and other sports.

The State Legislature just put in budget cuts for education. Academic programs like art, foreign language training, and even the sciences took a financial beating but the sport teams were largely untouched.

It is nice to know some school districts are more enlightened than the ones in Central FLA. What I have heard from fellow teachers in this state was pitiful.

UncleVanya

In my part of the world many of these teams contributed their own money and held fund raisers to pay for supplies. One of the teams that qualified into the top 100 that I am personally familiar with held multiple bake sales and raffles to raise the money for the trip to the finals.

If these teams go to their administration and offer to help fund the program with their own efforts they may have better luck this next year. Have them partner with local rocket clubs and they may find it is reasonably easy to get gravity challenged rocketeers to pay for snacks and drinks at launches...

n5wd

A department head or administrator who doesn't want to do something can always claim "no money". The teacher who wants to do something out of the ordinary, such as TARC, sometimes has to do some convincing of the powers-that-be that (a) the program can be self-supporting and (b) it won't steal someone else's thunder.

If you are personally acquainted with any of the teachers who ran into such problems, no matter what subject they teach, suggest they contact the director of the Career and Technology department. Due to the way the federal laws work, sometimes they have money for activities like TARC that a regular science department might not... CATE funded our trip to the finals, though we had other sponsors that got us through the design and flying stage before the finals (my engineering classes are Career and Technology Ed, for example).




A lot of times that's because the athletic programs are already self-supporting. The money brought in through ticket and concession sales fund the programs through the year and are not subject to control through the state legislature.