Students of the high school participated in the third annual Rowan Engineering Blast-Off competition
Seneca High School students competed in the third annual Rowan Engineering Blast-Off competition held at the South Jersey Technology Park on April 28. Mentored by Seneca teachers Dusty Carroll and Jason Pitner, Seneca entered three teams, consisting of a mix of Seneca Aeronautics Club members, Project Lead the Way STEM students, and students enrolled in other technology courses.
The objective of the event was to design and build a rocket from scratch that sent two raw eggs as its payload to height of exactly 800 feet and had a flight duration of 44 to 46 seconds. In addition to the excitement of experimenting with the rockets, Seneca students were able to interact with Rowan University engineering students to learn about and discuss their current projects. The day began with a presentation by a NASA engineer showing the students how she progressed from building rockets in middle school to majoring in engineering in college to becoming a project manager at NASA.
Throughout the planning, building and testing phases of this event, students learned about aerodynamics, center of gravity, center of pressure, surface area, rocket stability and flight simulation software. They used computer modeling throughout the design process to create working prototypes. Students continually modified their designs to accommodate different motor specifications as they worked toward their final launch. Sophomore team captain, Joe Nason, stated, “The Rowan competition was awesome! It was great to see so many people gathered together shooting rockets.”
