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Parkway STARBASE Team Soars High at National Competition
3, 2, 1 blast off!
The Parkway High School STARBASE Team #6615 soared to new heights over the summer, advancing to the National Finals of the world’s largest rocket contest -- The American Rocketry Challenge.
The team was one of 615 teams from across the nation and the U.S. Virgin Islands that traveled to Austin, TX to compete for more than $100,000 in cash and prizes and the title of National Champion. Parkway made an impressive finish, ending up in the top 10-percent of all contestants.
STARBASE, located on Barksdale Air Force Base, has sponsored a team at Parkway since 2017 and this was the first year the area was represented at the National Finals. Team members were: Anna Anderson, Kelsie Culbert, Nick Hollis and Christian Orozco.
“The hard work, dedication and desire to compete at the top level demonstrated their exemplary focus and understanding of the engineering design process,” said Richard Scott, Deputy Director of STARBASE Louisiana.
The American Rocketry Challenge is the aerospace and defense industry’s flagship program designed to encourage students to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM). The competition challenges high school students to design, build and fly a rocket that meets specific altitude and flight duration parameters.
This year’s rule required teams to design, build and launch a model rocket that carried a raw egg to an altitude of 800 feet, stay airborne for 40 to 43 seconds and return the rocket to the ground safely with the egg intact.
Sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association, the National Association of Rocketry and more than a dozen industry partners, The American Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest rocket contest. Now in its 19th year, The American Rocketry Challenge has inspired more than 80,000 middle and high school students to explore education and career in STEM fields.