Alabama is no stranger to national championships. But international championships? For rocketry? An award earned by a group of students from a small North Alabama school?
That's something special.
I got the chance recently to sit down with the members of the Russellville High School Rocketry Team. In June, the group captured first place honors at the International Rocketry Challenge at the 2015 Paris Air Show. They earned the right to represent the U.S. at the show by winning the national title earlier in the year. The team's members are: Cristian Ruiz, Niles Butts, Andrew Heath, Katie Burns, Evan Swinney, Cady Studdard, and Chelsea Suddith.
Here are 10 things I learned from this exceptional bunch:
U.S. win was a surprise
The group thought they had a good rocket going into the national contest. In that contest, the top 101 scores go to Washington, D.C. and the group was thrilled when it learned they came out on top.
"I was blown away," said Joseph Cole, a 7-8th grade made teacher who worked with the team. "We thought a reasonable expectation was to be in the top 10 at nationals. Then we won nationals. Before then, I never dreamed we would make it to internationals."
The group was more than ready for Paris
The win at Paris was no fluke. The group had worked for a year to design, build and launch its rocket with the goal of reaching an altitude of exactly 800 feet within a 46- to 48-second flight window. The rocket was required to separate into two sections during the flight, with the main section returning to ground with its payload - including a raw egg - intact.
Scores were determined by how close the rockets approached the required height and time and a cracked egg meant disqualification. The Russellville team achieved a winning flight score of 49.53 with an altitude of 824 feet and won first place in the presentation contest - all without any broken eggs.
Each team member oversaw an element of the project from projection to payload, similar to how NASA operates a space launch.
Never underestimate the power of a good teacher
Several of the team members said the guidance of a teacher brought them to the rocketry team.
"Seven years ago, I had a science teacher and the school had started a robotics class and he signed me up for it," team captain Andrew Heath said. "I quickly fell in love with it."
Or childhood experimentation
Niles Butts traced his love of rocketry back to his childhood.
"My brother and I were always shooting off rockets," he said. "I've always just liked them."
The team learned a lot about rocketry. They learned plenty of other things, too
None of the team members had ever been out of the country. None had a passport. That didn't slow them down, though.
Team members said the magnitude of their win didn't really hit them until they got back to the U.S. from Paris. Now, in a town full of championship sports team, it was the Rocketry Team that was featured at Russellville's Fourth of July celebration, where they were presented a demonstration. They've also been honored with an official proclamation from the Russellville City Council.
"I felt like a celebrity," Cady Studdard said.
Other than rocketry, there were a couple of things that stood out in Paris
"All of the buildings were so nice," Cristian Ruiz said. "There was not a single one that was rundown." The group also enjoyed the food ("even their McDonald's was nice," one said.) They did miss sweet tea, though.
How much does it cost to go to the air show in Paris? If you're this team, not a cent.
It's an expensive proposition to take a group of students to Paris and it would have been almost impossible except for this: the cost of the trip was covered by Raytheon Corp.
"Everything we needed was taken care of," advisor Joseph Cole said.
Girls don't like engineering, right?
Wrong. Team member Chelsea Suddith, who is going to be a junior next year, said it never occurred to her that some people might think it was unusual for a girl to be a member of a rocketry team.
"I never thought about it until someone asked me that when we won," she said. "Before that, I didn't think anything about a girl doing something like this."
Team member Katelyn Burns agreed.
"Nothing about this made me think that girls couldn't do it, too," she said.
They are already talking repeat
There are seven members to the championship rocketry team. Only one of those -Evan Swinney - has graduated. All are coming back next year and want to repeat as champions, a feat that's almost unheard of. Swinney isn't leaving rocketry behind even though he won't be on the team.
"I'm going to UAH to study computer engineering but I like aerospace, too," he said.
He's not the only one - every member of the rocketry team said they planned to go to college to study in an aerospace, technology or science education field.
Hope for the future
You hear a lot these days about how the next generation won't be capable of running this country. Maybe so. But meeting these kids, and seeing what they are capable of, certainly gives you hope for the future.