Millbrook School students blast off at rocketry competition

MILLBROOK — Three students from Millbrook School, a private coeducational school, made it to the Team America Rocketry Challenge for students grades six through 12.  

The students, Kevin Yu, 18, of Ningbo, China; Kevin Wang, 17, of Beijing, China; and Team Leader Chris Wedd, 19, of nearby Red Hook, worked with Team Coach Jeffrey LaCosse. They designed, built and flew a rocket — no mean feat. The idea was to get the lowest score by meeting competition goals. An annual competition, generally 850 teams compete each year across America.

The Millbrook team was in Washington, D.C., on Friday, May 17, to attend the event, “Rockets on the Hill,” where they met other teams and competitors. The big day of the competition was on Saturday, May 18. To win, each flight was scored on how close it came to the target altitude of eight; scoring was based on the best of two out of three qualifying flights.

Although the team did not make it past the competition on May 18, the experience was  a positive one.    

LaCosse stated, “My interest in rocketry started with the NASA Apollo program. I now have a National Association of Rocketry clearance. I wanted to share my excitement and learn about aerodynamics and aerospace with my students. The project also teaches logistics and financial budgeting.“ 

Yu did the design work in his class, Independent Science Research. Wang and Wedd actually built the rocket and then flew it. Their project required them to translate the theoretical designs into the actual rockets, and they also had to conduct a series of practice flights in order to test their design. 

Unfortunately, they crashed the rocket on the first flight, but managed to build two more in time for the qualifying event the following week. 

In spite of not pulling ahead in the competition, the experience was fun, exciting and the trip to the capital greatly appreciated. LaCosse said the team felt satisfied that they had done their best, and that reaching the finals of the Team America Rocketry Challenge was a worthy accomplishment.

Wu and Wedd just graduated from the school, but Wang is returning in the fall and will continue his work on the competition for the third year.  In all, six teams competed this year from the school. LaCosse said he feels that is too many. Four teams are expected to compete next year.

The project is funded by the science department budget, and fortunately there is plenty of space available for the rockets to fly. The engineering team is considered a winter sport, which allows plenty of time for students to meet with their coach, generally about two hours after school. 

Meanwhile, two other teams will include students from advanced physics, and the rocket building will serve as a class project.

Plans are already in motion for next year’s competition, and  Millbrook School hopes to put itself on the map as a place of forward thinking and expertise in the rocketry science field.