Coleman High School Rocketry Team Enter Qualifying Flights for The America Rocketry Challenge (TARC)

Coleman High School Engineering, Research and Design students Neveah Eldred and Bethany Jones recently flew their official qualifying flights to enter the 2023 American Rocketry Challenge.  TARC (The American Rocketry Challenge) is the world’s largest rocket contest, with nearly 5,000 students nationwide competing annually.  The contest provides students in 6^th-12^th grades the opportunity to design, build, and launch model rockets and gain hands on experience solving engineering problems. After official qualification flights are submitted to TARC, the top 100 teams in the nation are invited to attend the National Finals in Washington, D.C. The teams selected for the national competition are selected based on their lowest combined qualifying scores. The teams invited to advance to the national contest will be announced April 12, 2023.

Each year the rules vary slightly to provide a new challenge to competitors. The 2023 rules require teams to design, build, and launch a model rocket that carries one raw egg to an altitude of 850 feet, stays airborne for 42-45 seconds, and return the rocket to the ground safely with the egg intact. The rocket must use two body sections, one containing a single raw egg and altimeter, and the second must contain the rocket motor.  The two sections must separate after apogee and be recovered separately, with no harm to the egg, both by parachute. Teams are penalized for every foot above or below the goal altitude and for each second outside the airborne window.

The 2023 CHS rocketry team is comprised of seniors Neveah Eldred, Bethany Jones and junior Austin Graham. Gary Strickland is the CHS Engineering, Research and Design teacher who oversees the class and project. He stresses that the students do all of the work from design to launch.  

Coleman High School has competed in TARC since 2016 and has advanced two teams to nationals. In 2022, the CHS Team placed 5^th at the National Contest and was awarded $7,500 in prize money. The students and Mr. Strickland would like to extend a special thank you to Barbara Cox for volunteering as the official NAR (National Association of Rocketry) observer for the qualifying flights.