Team Everyday competed against college and university teams from five states
(Inver Grove Heights, MN) — June 21st, 2022 — This past May, Team Everyday, the student engineering team at Inver Hills Community College, took third place in the 2021–2022 NASA Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocketry Competition, “Return to Flight: Fleet Challenge.”
Team Everyday competed against nine high-power rocketry teams representing colleges and universities from five states: Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, and Wisconsin.
First Place: Bethel University
Second Place: University of Wisconsin–Madison
Third Place: Inver Hills Community College
Highest score was 74.85. Inver scored 69.32. Average score was 48.05
The rocketry teams delivered oral presentations to a panel of judges Saturday, May 21, 2022, in Wyoming, Minnesota. The next day at the Tripoli Minnesota Rocketry Club launch field near North Branch, Minnesota, the teams launched their fleets of rockets.
Joan Carter, EdD, PE, is faculty in the Engineering Fundamentals program at Inver Hills. Joan served as Team Everyday’s faculty advisor. She was very impressed by the team’s performance at the competition.
“There were many aspects of the competition and ways to earn points,” she explained. “The overall idea was to build multiple rockets that differed from each other in as many ways as the team could conceive, while having a uniting theme. Inver’s team was voted ‘Best Core Build’ by their peers—quite the honor. Each team was given the same rocket kit—a ‘core build’—to use as one of their rockets. Our team’s rocket was deemed the best by the other teams.”
Joan pointed out that Kelly Behlen, Team Everyday’s overall lead, organized and led the team through every detail.
“Kelly is a wonderful leader,” Joan added, “but make no mistake, this was a team effort. All seven team members were involved, had active roles, and positively contributed. Everyone had a terrific experience. I am so proud of this team and each of the students.”
“Programs like this are incredibly important,” Kelly said, “Competitions give students the opportunity to shine, and there are definitely a number of my team members who shine brighter than the Sun because of it.”
2022 Space Grant Midwest High-Power Rocketry Team Competitors
- Inver Hills Community College
- University of Wisconsin–Madison
- University of Wisconsin–Platteville
- Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
- University of North Dakota
- University of Iowa
- Macalester College
- Hamlin University
- Bethel University
- Normandale Community College
All Photo Credits: Inver Hills Community College
