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School board members Alta Morrison (seated), Laurie McCaulley and Topper
Birney join the Schools Foundation board member Tracy Lamm to recognize the
winning rocket team….
 Stone Middle School Peggy Harris, Topper Birney, Huntsville School Board member
and Sue Esslinger, The Schools Foundation board, joined the award presentation…….
Scott McLain, president, The Schools Foundation board, recognizes the work
of Stone Middle School Rocket Team sponsor, Barbara Murphy, and the student
team members.
Teacher (Murphy) and student team
The whole group
Arlington, Va. -- The top 100 student rocketry teams
in the country are ready for the final round of competition of the Team America
Rocketry Challenge next month after AIA announced the qualifiers for the
fly-off on Friday.
The seventh annual TARC -- the world's largest rocket contest
-- will take place May 16 at Great Meadow in The Plains, Va. The final
competition gives middle and high school students a chance to earn part of a
total prize package of $60,000 in scholarships and other prizes.
The list of finalists is available at www.rocketcontest.org. A total of 653 teams
from 45 states and the District of Columbia took part in the qualifying rounds
of competition.
"An impressive number of teams took part in the initial
round of the competition," AIA President and CEO Marion Blakey said.
"I am looking forward to seeing how these young finalists -- hopefully
many of whom will be future employees -- respond to this year's
challenge."
The teams design, build and launch model rockets with a
raw-egg payload that must return to the ground unbroken. This year's contest
goals are an altitude of 750 feet and a flight time of 45 seconds. The rockets
must transport the egg laid horizontally to mimic the position of an astronaut.
AIA co-sponsors the event with the National Association of
Rocketry in conjunction with NASA, the Defense Department, the American
Association of Physics teachers and 34 AIA member companies. The goal of the
contest is to bolster student interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and
Mathematics -- STEM -- education in an effort to attract young people to
aerospace careers.
Two AIA companies provide premium prizes. Raytheon will once
again provide a fully paid trip for the winning team to the International Paris
Air Show in June. And Lockheed Martin will provide $5,000 scholarships to each
of the top three teams. NASA also invites top teams to participate in advanced
rocketry programs.
For more information about TARC, visit www.rocketcontest.org.
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