The team is one of 100 schools in the nation to qualify for the national contest. The Model school is just one of 11 middle schools to qualify. Over 690 teams made up of nearly 7,000 middle school and high school students attempted to meet the contest’s rigorous requirements. Team members, all seventh and eighth graders, include: Jackson Helson (team leader), Rachel Dotson, Maria Dougherty, Caroline Gerstle, Natalya Naser, Anna Popp, Sam Sonnier, Vincent Stevens and Clay Wright.
Jackson said the team is looking forward to the national fly-off in Great Meadows, Va. and expects to place among the top 10. Jackson said, “The most difficult problem to overcome will be adjusting the rocket to the weather the day of the launch. Weather is the big variable there." The contest requires students to design, build and test a model rocket that can fly as close as possible to 45 seconds total flight duration and 850 feet maximum flight altitude with a payload of one raw egg; the egg must be successfully parachuted back to the ground unbroken. Team supervisor and Model School science teacher Ben Randell said the contest is an excellent opportunity for students to learn hands-on lessons in aerodynamics in a non-classroom setting.
The project had the teams building rockets in a manner not too far off from professionals, said Tom Popp, the team's mentor and a local engineer. "The contest promotes teamwork, delegation of tasks and group decisions," Popp said. "It requires a lot of rigorous work, including continuous modification of the rocket and collection of data. You can never have enough data."
The top 10 teams will share a prize pool of $60,000 in savings bonds and cash.
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Sacred Heart Model School (SHMS), a member of Ursuline Campus Schools, sponsored by the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, is a K-8 co-ed school. SHMS, founded in 1924, promotes excellence in education by focusing on the personal success of each child. Model School students average in the 90% or greater on the Terra Nova, a nationally normed standardized test given yearly to students in Levels 1-7. SHMS offers a well-rounded education including foreign language as part of its core curriculum, performing arts classes within the school day, an array of extra curricular offerings including chess, quick recall, and choir, as well as a comprehensive athletic program. In 2001, SHMS was named a National Blue Ribbon School of Excellence.
Find SHMS online at http://www.ucschools.com/shms.