I got a press release from Boynton Beach Community High School about a couple of students who decided that sending raw eggs sky high was more important than attending their own graduation. Here’s the press release:
Two seniors from Boynton Beach Community High School made a hard choice: mortarboards, or model rockets. Both were members of the school’s science, engineering and math club. And the world’s largest model rocket design contest was the same day as graduation. To participate in the prestigious Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC) in Virginia meant missing graduation ceremonies. But TARC offered a shot at more than $11,500 in prizes and scholarships, an apprenticeship with NASA, and an all-expense paid trip to the International Paris Air Show in June 2007.
They chose to show their “Right Stuff.†And that won an award for Best School Spirit.
Students Josue Dimanche and Kevin Garcia missed graduating on May 19th to travel to The Plains, Va. just outside of Washington, D.C. to participate in the 5th annual TARC contest. In recognition of their dedication and sacrifice, their diplomas were instead presented on the field by NASA Associate Administrator Dr. Scott J. Horowitz (Colonel, USAF, Ret.). Their commencement ceremony was attended by Apollo 11 moonwalker astronaut Dr. Buzz Aldrin, Ph.D. (Colonel, USAF, Ret.); two time space shuttle pilot Paul Lockhart (Colonel, USAF, Ret.) and currently on special duty assignment to NASA’s Explorations Systems Mission Directorate; and Brigadier General John W. Douglass (USAF, Ret.), president and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association and the “father†of TARC.
Kevin Garcia made the computer model of team’s model rocket, designing the blueprints on SpaceCAD software. Garcia will be seeking a bachelor’s degree in game design and development at Full Sail Real World Education, a college in Winter Park, FL. Josue Dimanche helped with the refining and real world testing of the rocket. Dimanche will be working on a degree in aerospace engineering at the University of Florida in the fall.
Garcia and Dimanche were two of about 7,000 students on 690 teams from 48 states and the District of Columbia took part in the qualifying rounds of competition for TARC. They spent the school year design, building, launching and recovering a rocket with a raw egg payload that could meet the challenge. The goal for the teams was to fly a hand-made rocket as close as possible to 850 feet in altitude and 45 seconds in duration. The rockets carry a raw egg payload that must return to the ground un-cracked to qualify as a valid flight. Scores are based on deviations from the altitude and time goals, so a perfect mark would be zero.
The top 100 qualifying teams from around the nation were invited to the fifth installment of TARC, which is sponsored by Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry along with NASA, the Defense Department, and the American Association of Physics Teachers. The Boynton High “TARC Tigers†stood out amongst the 100 with their “Tiger Pride†displaying on the field their handmade school banner and wearing matching tiger ears, tee-shirts, and face paint. Dimanche even wore a tiger costume out to the launch pad. For a team willing to forgo graduation, GKN Aerospace Services recognized Boynton High with a special plaque for “Best School Spirit.â€
