3 CCSD Teams Competing At Nationals For Aeronautics

From CCSD: Creekview High School’s rocketry team is continuing its National-qualifying streak, with Creekland Middle School now joining in as a rare middle school competitor… and Creekview’s drone team is headed to Nationals, too!

Both schools will send teams to the Team America Rocketry Contest National Finals on May 12 in The Plains, Va. to compete among the 100 top teams from across the country in STEM challenges for titles, $100,000 in prizes and scholarships and the chance to head to Internationals in England in July. Creekview High’s Aeronautics team is in its ninth consecutive year of national qualifying, with Captain Brayden Dodge, Elijah Alcivar, Kennedy Hugo, Ryan Lamazarez, Aiden McChesney, Warren Teachworth and Chris Youngblood continuing the legacy, with sponsor Creekview HS teacher Tim Smyrl.

Brayden, as part of his Senior Project, mentored the team from Creekland MS, which joins Creekview HS as the only other Georgia student rocketry team to qualify for Nationals. Only a handful of middle school teams advance to Nationals each year, and Creekland’s all-seventh-grade team is the youngest to qualify. Captain Ethan Dooley, Cole Day, Layton Dowless, Mason Duckworth, Carson Heath, Austin St. John and Johnny Schaly make up the team, which is sponsored by Creekland MS teacher Phil Dodge.

The Team America Rocketry Contest encourages students to pursue STEM careers by challenging them to design, build and fly a rocket that meets specific altitude and flight duration parameters. This year’s STEM challenge required teams to build rockets capable of carrying two eggs to a target altitude of 800 feet and return them -- unbroken -- in a flight window of 41-43 seconds.

Creekview HS Aeronautics team members also are headed to the National finals for drone competitions! The drone team finished fourth at the Atlantic Regional of the UAS4STEM Search and Rescue competition and advances to the National Finals in Muncie, Ind. in August.

Students are tasked with building and programming a drone capable of flying autonomously, sending live video, and recording GPS coordinates for objects of interest. This year, the drone also had to be capable of supply delivery (dropping water balloons) to coordinates (targets) captured on the video.

Captain Joey Gallagher leads the drone team of Will Bourdeau, Matthew Burch, Aiden McChesney, Brandon Solon, Canon Sousa, and Warren Teachworth, which is sponsored by Creekview HS teacher Tim Smyrl.
All three teams will be recognized by the Cherokee County School Board and Superintendent of Schools at the Board’s May 17 meeting.

Images Via CCSD