Harmony Schools rocket team heads to nationals
Rockets designed right here in El Paso are putting El Paso on the map, thanks to some bright students at Harmony Science Academy. Two of the school’s Rocketry teams have qualified for this year’s Team America Rocketry Challenge.
The teams of three students each had to design, build and fly a rocket carrying three raw eggs exactly 856 feel in the air, and return them to the ground within and 43 and 46 second window, with the eggs still intact.
“It took a lot of work. We worked on it day and night. Our first launch went completely crazy, but step by step we worked it out,” says senior Nayely Gomez. Gomez, proud to be one of the two female members representing the school, says they’ve been working on their projects since school began in the fall.
Of more than 830 teams from across the country, only 100 made it to finals. Harmony Science Academy is the only El Paso school to qualify to send not one, but two teams to compete in The Plains, Virginia this weekend.
“I’m very proud of them. This is their first year. They went through the design process, building, launched probably 15 to 20 times in the field,” says STEM Coordinator Osman Guler.
The Team America Rocketry Challenge is the world’s largest student rocket contest, with a goal to build a stronger U.S. stem workforce. The winning team this weekend will represent the United States at the International Rocketry Challenge in Paris in June.
