LMS rocket team qualifies for national competition
Bazinga qualified among the top 100 teams in the nation in April.
BY ANNA DURRETT / REPORTER
The Bazinga rocket team from Liberty Middle School will compete in the national finals of the Team America Rocketry Challenge outside of the District of Columbia on May 12. Bazinga qualified among the top 100 teams in the nation in April.
This is Liberty Middle School’s second year competing in TARC under the direction of math teacher Nate Pahman, and it will be their first year at nationals. Bob Jones High School placed third in the nation in 2010, but they didn’t score well enough to make it to nationals this year.
“What we’re trying to do is develop their interest in aerospace engineering, and so maybe some day they go in to that,” Pahman said.
TARC challenges middle and high school students across the country to build a rocket that reaches 800 feet high and comes back to the ground without breaking its cargo of two eggs in 43-47 seconds.
Bazinga built a primary rocket and a backup rocket. “One reason for our backup rocket is for wind conditions,” said Sander, the project engineer of Bazinga. The backup rocket has bigger fins, and the team can also make adjustments by adding weight to the rockets. The backup rocket is also important in case the primary rocket has a catastrophic landing.
The team is composed of eighth graders Kyle Sander and Ethan Canup and seventh graders Calvin Bush, Eli Canup Michael Kvicala and Logan Whitaker. Liberty had another rocket team that was composed of ninth graders, but they did not qualify nationals.
The Huntsville Area Rocket Association invited the Liberty rocket teams and other teams in the area to their meetings to impart rocket wisdom, free kits and spare parts. “They’ve really helped support these area kids,” said Pahman.
The 10 teams with the best scores at TARC nationals will share in $60,000 of prizes and scholarship money. The winning team will be sent with all expenses paid to compete in an international rocket competition in England this year.
