The students from Newport High School’s National Championship first and second place rocketry teams will hold a community briefing where they will discuss their experience at the American Rocketry Challenge, highlighting the perseverance and unity it took to compete in and win the national competition. At the May 19 School Board Meeting, the team shared several setbacks leading up to the competition, including a missing part that was ingeniously replaced with a toilet paper roll the night before the launch. One team member mentioned that their biggest takeaway from the competition is to “Never give up. No matter how hopeless the situation may seem, you just have to keep pushing.” The Newport team also shared their appreciation for the collaboration of other BSD rocketry teams who helped contribute to the competition-winning rocket.
Members of the Bellevue High School and Interlake High School rocketry teams will also be on hand to share their experiences in rocketry and stories from the national event.
What: Community briefing with presentations by BSD rocketry teams highlighting their experiences at the American Rocketry Challenge.
Who: Newport, Bellevue and Interlake high school rocketry teams, Bellevue School District.
When: CANCELED Wednesday, May 25, 2022, at 1:30 p.m.
Where: Newport High School Library, 4333 Factoria Blvd. SE, Bellevue, WA 98006.
Background
On Saturday, May 14, 2022, Newport High School students competed in the American Rocketry Challenge, the world’s largest student rocketry competition. Out of 724 teams from 41 states that participated in the competition this year, in an unprecedented finish, Newport teams came in both first and second place.
To qualify for the finals, teams had to build a rocket that could safely carry two raw eggs with a target flight duration of 41-44 seconds and an altitude of 835 feet. At the national competition, the top 42 teams conducted a launch required to reach 860 feet with a duration of 42-45 seconds.
Newport students will now represent the United States at the International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough Airshow outside London in July.