Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
SHREWSBURY, Mass. (WBZ NewsRadio) — A local high school engineering club made it to the national competition for model rocket launches, winning over $1,000.
The rocket team at Shrewsbury High School, called the Eclipse Engineers, is all seniors, and before they end their high school careers, they wanted to launch one last rocket to commemorate a busy and successful year.
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During a free period at school, the club set up the rocket launch next to the baseball fields. “It’d be worse if we fired after school. It gets in the way of sports,” shared one of the team members.
The group explained what they did in the lead-up to the launch. “Right now, we’re basically just packing the parachute so that way after it launches, it will come down without breaking,” said Krish Jain.
Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
The student group recently competed at The American Rocketry Challenge, a national model rocket competition in Virginia, where they won $1,500.
The Challenge is the world’s largest rocket contest with close to 5,000 students competing every year.
During the competition, each team had to ensure an egg inside their model rocket didn’t break.
“We have to get the rocket to launch to as close to 850 feet as possible and has to land within 43 to 46 seconds,” said Arjun Kataria. And if the egg breaks, “it’s a DQ [disqualification].”
Photo: Chaiel Schaffel/WBZ NewsRadio
The students designed and built the rocket on their own.
Moving forward, the future of the rocket club is uncertain since their advisor is retiring and the student members are graduating and going off to college.
“I am very proud of the boys. They did a fantastic job,” said Paul Wood, the engineering club advisor.
Wood explained how the students practiced a lot to prepare for nationals after qualifying in a local competition in March.
“It was fun. It was an amazing adventure.”
WBZ NewsRadio's Chaiel Schaffel (@CSchaffelWBZ) reports.
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