Rocketry Planet

STRATHMORE, California USA — Hours of preparation and rocket building by the eight Rocketry Club members at Harmony Magnet Academy paid off Saturday when seven of the team members competed in the National Finals of the world’s largest rocketry contest and walked away with a second-place win and $10,500.

Harmony Magnet Academy's Rocketry Team returned from the national finals of the worlds' largest rocketry contest with a second place win. Posing on the stage at the Great Meadow Event Center in The Plains, VA are, L to R, Christian Boudreaux, Shelby Simonich, Sharanya Thiagarajan, Mark Bagsol, Daniel Reif, Samuel Zelaya and Adam Huth. Photo: Tim Simonich.

Harmony Magnet Academy’s Extreme Rocketry Club was one of 100 middle school and high school teams that qualified from 607 teams to participate in Team America Rocketry Challenge — TARC — in The Plains, VA, near Washington D.C.

The team, consisting of Mark Bagsol, Christian Boudreaux, Pheng Cha, Adam Huth, Daniel Reif, Shelby Simonich, Sharanya Thiagarajan, and Samuel Zelaya, is led by faculty advisor Kurt Osmer, and team parent advisors Eric Huth and Tim Simonich.

This year, TARC challenged students from across the country to design and build a rocket that flies to 750 feet and stays aloft between 40 and 45 seconds using a 15-inch parachute solely for a recovery device. The teams also had to transport a payload of one fresh egg in their rocket that needed to return unbroken. 

On Saturday, the weather was not ideal for flying model rockets. It was breezy and rainy and each of the 100 teams had the opportunity to fly their rocket only once. The top 24 teams flew their rockets in the second round, with the combined scores of the two rounds determining the national winner.

Harmony’s first flight flew to 729 feet, scoring them into a ranking of 21st place after the first round,” Tim Simonich said. “The team made adjustments to their rocket and in the second flight flew to 748 feet.”

Both flights had times within the 40 to 45 second duration and both eggs survived, and the combined scores tied the team for second place with a team from Suwanee, GA.. First place was won by a team from Heath, Texas, who will represent the United States in June at the Paris Air Show against the national champion teams from France and England.

The students competed for $60,000 in prizes and scholarships. 

The Aerospace Industries Association sponsored the contest with the National Association of Rocketry, NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, the American Association of Physics Teachers and AIA member companies.

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