Appalachian High School Rocket Team

Blount County

Pictures are of Teacher Peggy Pate and her 12th Grade "Appalachian High School Rocket Team" in Blount County. Mr. Rick Bevel, new member of the "Birmingham Rocket Boys", has been serving as the teams Mentor and has worked with Mrs. Pate to assist her students in building four egg lofting rockets. These rockets, which can be seen in these pictures, were designed by the students and except for the nose cone and motors were scratch built using household parts. The rockets were powered by a single Estes E-9-6 motor and carried their payload of one raw egg to altitudes over 1,000 ft. The students can be seen preparing their rockets for launch while Rick Bevel, serving as the LCO (Launch Control Officer), arms and launches their rockets. Out of six launches all of the eggs were safely recovered except one which was due to a nose cone separation from the rocket. While the Senior Class flew their rockets the Junior Class stood and looked on as they will be the schools representatives in the upcoming "TARC" (Team America Rocketry Challenge) competition starting this September.  Rick invited Ron to the school to meet Mrs. Pate and her rocket team and to view their progress. Ron was very impressed with Mrs. Pate and her rocket team and believe that with Mrs. Pate as their Teacher, Rick as their "TARC" Mentor, and with their inspired and gifted students, they will be a force to reckoned with from the state of Alabama in the in the upcoming "TARC" competition.

"TARC" (Team America Rocketry Challenge) is an annual event that is sponsored by the NAR (National Association Of Rocketry) and the AIA (Aerospace Industries Association). The challenge is for qualifying high school and middle school teams to design and build their own two-stage model rocket which they will use to launch two raw eggs to an altitude of 1,250 feet and safely recover without breaking. A grand prize pool of over $50,000 in cash and savings bonds will be shared by the top ten teams.