The Kirby Smith Middle School Challenger Learning Center Team America Rocketry Challenge (KSMS CLC) team were recently surprised when the division president of Kaman Aerospace Corporation, Robert Kanaskie, presented the team with a $2500 check to help pay for their trip to TARC national launch-off in Manassas, VA on May 14. Mr. Kanaskie also presented the students with tee-shirts which they will wear on their trip to Virginia.
The KSMS CLC rocket team was selected as one of America's top one hundred rocket teams on April 8, 2011. The team was selected by a high qualification score of 4 and will be one of two schools from Florida that will attend nationals. The 607 registered TARC teams were tasked with designing, building and testing a rocket that would send a raw egg to an altitude of 750 feet, travel for 40 to 45 seconds, and return the egg to the ground unbroken using a 15 inch parachute. The KSMS CLC team's rocket Josh, named for Josh Walters, the KSMS student who died from injuries sustained during a soccer game, soared to 754 feet, traveled for 41.2 seconds, and the egg returned home with a single crack.
If the KSMS CLC places as one of the top 10 teams during nationals, they will share in $60,000 in prizes, and scholarship monies. The first-place team will be invited to the International Air Show in Paris, France to compete against the French and British rocket teams.
Article submitted by Sheree Kearns.
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