Heuvelton team in finals of world’s largest student rocketry competition

HEUVELTON, N.Y. (WWTI) – A team from Heuvelton Central School is among the 100 national finalists in the American Rocketry Challenge , which had a record-breaking 922 teams and 5,000 students from 45 states enter this year.

The 100 finalist teams will compete at the National Finals Fly-off on May 18, in The Plains, Virginia, just outside Washington, DC . Teams are competing for the title of National Champion and an all-expense paid trip to the International Rocketry Challenge at the Farnborough Air Show in England, as well as $100,000 in prizes. The top 25 teams will automatically receive invitations to NASA’s Student Launch workshop.

Here are some details about Heuvelton’s team:

• The team consists of five students advised by physics teacher & team mentor Bob Kennedy.
• This will be the school’s 10th trip to the National Finals.
• Mr. Kennedy took the first team to the National Finals in 2003 where they placed eighth.
• Over the last 20 years, they have had five “Top 30” performances.
• The team must test fly their rockets in sub-zero temperatures.
• They are one of seven teams from the state in the finals.

For 2024, each team was required to design, build, and launch model rockets that safely carry one large hen egg to an altitude of 820 feet, stay airborne for between 43 and 46 seconds, and return the rocket to the ground safely. The rocket must separate into two parts after apogee—one section of the rocket must contain the egg and altimeter, and the second the rocket motor(s)—and both parts must land with their own parachutes.

The list of all 100 National Finalists and the press release can be found here.

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