The NNHS Rocketry Club recently qualified for the 2025 American Rocketry Challenge national finals. Now, the team is busy testing their rockets so they’re ready for the contest.
NNHS Rocketry Club members learned more than rockets.
Launching a rocket successfully requires more than a rocket, propellant, and math. It turns out, the skill that’s helped them the most in building their rockets is problem-solving.
According to Mijael Barranco, Mentor for the NNHS Rocketry Club, it can be easy to get frustrated, “You think it might happen that way, but, you need to start attacking each variable. And once you get control of that, you move to the next one, and you get control of that, and you go through all the processes until you reach the weather–where you have no control on that..”
“When we worked on first year, it was easy,” said Keanu Barranco, the founder of the Rocketry Club. “We actually had the score of one, which was almost perfect. We thought, ‘Oh, it’s easy!’ And then the next year we tried and there were so many more difficulties. And every time you come up with one solution, it brings two more problems with it.”
“I am a mechanical and electrical engineer, and okay, it’s just a rocket,” added Mijael. “I’m more into remote control cars and things like that. I thought that was complex, but just the weather itself is a tremendous challenge. Where we are flying right now, the wind is blowing in this direction. 200, 300, feet above us, it’s blowing in the opposite direction. Your rocket needs to navigate through that.”
The American Rocketry Challenge rules are tough–so there’s no getting by on luck
According to the rules, the rockets must have a set weight and length of 650kg and 650mm, respectively. Each rocket is made of two tubes, where the upper tube must be large enough to carry an altimeter and two raw eggs–oriented “sideways.”
Both segments must return safely by parachute, and to complicate things, the eggs must stay intact upon landing, making this the world’s most complicated egg drop contest.
To make it even more difficult, the goal isn’t even to see which rocket goes the highest.
“We’re trying to get to 815 feet today,” explained Keanu. “But, to get into finals, we had to try for 790ft. When we’re in the finals, they’re going to do a coin flip between 765 feet and 815 feet.”
“The aim is to hit it exactly,” added Mijael. “And if you don’t hit that number exactly, then you get penalized.”
The NNHS Rocketry Club isn’t as old as you might think
The Naperville North High School Rocketry Club started three years ago after Keanu spotted a book at the library. “The name was the Handbook of Model Rocketry,” Keanu said. “It was considered the holy grail.”
For Keanu to compete in the American Rocketry Challenge, he needed to join a school-sponsored club. But according to his Mijael, Keanu’s father, there was one small catch. “It was challenging because he needed to create the club itself. He needed at least two more of his friends at school to initiate the club.”
“Our first mentor, my dad, really helped me with this,” said Keanu. “He really helped me put it together, and, was really supportive of my journey.”
Will they slip the steely bonds of earth… and win?
The rocketry club will compete in Virginia at the national finals on May 17th. But are they worried?
I think our chances are good,” said Keanu. “There are 100 teams, so definitely it’s going to be a challenge, but I see our chances are good.”
