Shelby Junior High rocket club launches 2 teams into national contest

SHELBY TOWNSHIP — Shelby Junior High School is well represented among the 101 teams from 27 states that have qualified for the 2023 American Rocketry Challenge National Finals.

Shelby Junior High’s rocket club has qualified two teams for the national finals, and both Shelby Junior High teams beat out 700 other teams to secure their places in the national contest. They are the only teams from Michigan who qualified.

The 101 finalists will compete against each other on May 20 at Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia. At the finals, there will be $100,000 in prizes up for grabs and the title of national champion, which includes an all-expenses-paid trip to Paris for the International Rocketry Challenge, $20,000 for the team and $1,000 for the school. The top 25 finishers at the national finals will automatically earn spots in the NASA Student Launch workshop.

The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocket competition according to its website, rocketcontest.org. The contest’s goal is to encourage students to consider aerospace engineering as a career.

This year’s competition requires teams to build a rocket that can fly to an altitude of 850 feet. The rocket has to carry an egg while it stays airborne for 42-45 seconds. The egg and altimeter occupy one part of the rocket, and the motor occupies the other part. After reaching its peak, the rocket’s two parts must separate and each part must land safely with the help of a parachute.

The Shelby Junior High students started designing their rockets back in September using a program called RocSim. From October to February, the students built the rockets in the school’s woodshop. They tested their rockets in March and April, making adjustments after school on Fridays.

To qualify nationally, the teams had to score fewer than 35 points. Teams received a point for every foot over 850 feet and 4 points for every second outside the contest parameters. The two teams from Shelby Junior High had scores of 21 and 33.

Coach Andy Davis said he is both happy and relieved to qualify for the national competition.

“The students worked really hard and didn’t give up when their rockets were not cooperating. I give them a lot of credit for finding solutions to the problem and sticking with the math. I hope they win the $23,000 and the trip to Paris, but just qualifying is a huge accomplishment,” he said via email.

He said he would like to thank Bethesda Christian Church in Sterling Heights for letting the school’s rocketry teams use their property to launch their rockets.

Students Alex Vanker and Derek Woodruff shared what they are looking forward to at the national competition.

“Getting to see the other teams from around the country and compete against them,” Vanker said via email.

Woodruff said he is looking forward to seeing new places.

“Going to see Washington, D.C., for the first time and seeing different rocket designs from the other 98 teams we are competing against,” Woodruff said in an email.