CONTEST EMAIL ARCHIVES

Date: 04/20/2006

Subject: WARNER ROBINS & Troop 566 Make the News

For these kids, it is rocket science

By Alline Kent, MACON TELEGRAPH STAFF WRITER

Remember that old song, "Rockin' Robin?" If in the next few weeks you sing it around Warner Robins, you will have to change it a little.

To Rocket Robins.

Each year, the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry join forces to sponsor the Team America Rocketry Challenge, the world's largest model rocket contest.

NASA, the Department of Defense, the Civil Air Patrol and 39 AIA member companies are partners in presenting the event.

Six hundred and seventy-eight teams from all over the United States took part in the preliminary competition, which consisted of building a model rocket that will fly 800 feet in the air, travel for 45 seconds and land with its cargo - a raw egg - safe and sound.

Each flight receives a score according to performance and the top 100 teams will travel to Virginia on May 20 for the national Team America Rocketry Challenge. The prizes for the top finishers in the national competition include a share of a $60,000 purse in savings bonds and cash. Raytheon, an AIA member company, will be sponsoring a trip for members of the winning team to the Farnborough International Air Show near London in July.

And Rocket Robins, previously known as Warner Robins, is sending not one team, but two, to the national competition.

That's right. Two of the 100 nation's top teams are from Warner Robins - one representing Warner Robins High School and the other sponsored by Boy Scout Troop 566.

Michael Graul, an eighth grader at Warner Robins Middle School, is a member of the rocket team from Troop 566. He has been interested in model rocketry since he was in second grade, when his older brother Steven built and flew a model rocket.

Michael has been building his own rockets for about four years and the national rocketry competition just seems like the logical next step. "I really enjoy building them," Michael said. "I do it practically any time I have free time."

Along with the trip to Virginia, Michael hopes to get into D.C. for a visit to the Boy Scout Memorial. He is excited about the rocketry competition, but seemed just as excited about some of the exhibits that will be on display for the teams to visit when they are not flying their rockets.

According to the Aerospace Industries Association's Web site, there will be interactive displays and simulators from NASA and the Department of Defense, as well as booths featuring representatives from several university engineering and aerospace programs and other educational organizations.

"I want to see all the engineering schools, especially Purdue," Michael said. "I want to get a master's in math and in aeronautical engineering and in astronomy and work with the space program at NASA."

Lofty goals. But exactly the hope - and part of the reason - that AIA puts on the rocket contest.

The association created the contest two years ago to celebrate the 100th anniversary of flight. Originally it was to be a one-time event but overwhelming interest has turned it into an annual contest.

The goal is to promote aerospace to students to attract more young people to careers in the industry. According to AIA, the U.S. aerospace industry work force is shrinking and aging. The average employee in the industry is 54 years old, and total aerospace employment is at the lowest level since before 1953.

Both rocket teams from Warner Robins are looking for sponsors and donations to help offset the cost of the rockets and their trip. For information about donating to Warner Robins High School's team, call the school.

Donations to the Troop 566 team can be sent c/o Charles Singleton, Treasurer, Troop 566, 102 Wesleyan Drive, Warner Robins 31093. Checks should be made out to Troop 566, BSA.

Alline Kent's columns appear three days a week. She may be contacted via e-mail at AllineKent@cox.net, or by calling 396-2467.

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