Spring Grove Area Middle School placed second at the 2024 American Rocketry Challenge

The Spring Grove Area Middle School placed second at the 2024 American Rocketry Challenge. A team from the middle school and a team from the high school were among the 100 teams competing at the National Finals, which took place at Great Meadow in The Plains, Virginia on Sunday, May 19.

The team had a combined score of 7; a perfect score is 0. The Spring Grove Area Middle School team was initially an alternate for the National Finals, but secured a spot after another team dropped out, according to a press release from the organization.

The team members, all seventh and eigth graders, are Zeke Trimmer, Gautham Narayan, Xavier Bowman and Eland Kampes.

To qualify for the National Finals, participating teams designed, built and launched model rockets that could safely carry a payload of one raw egg with a target flight duration of 43-46 seconds and an altitude of 820 feet. The requirements for the National Finals were modified to introduce a new challenge to the teams.

“What an incredible day for all 100 teams who competed today; it’s clear we are witnessing the ascent of the next generation of aerospace innovators,” said Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO Eric Fanning.

Now in its 22nd year, the American Rocketry Challenge represented 28 states from Washington to Florida and competed for a total of $100,000 in prize money and scholarships.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Spring Grove students take 2nd in national rocketry challenge