Breaking news from Paris…

As we shared previously, on May 19, two Delbarton students, Makayo ‘Mak’ Cheung ’28 and Chase Eagan ’26, and their Boy Scout Troop 74 teammate Thomas Jenkins comprised a three-man Montville, NJ Boy Scout team that won the National Champion at the 23rd American Rocketry Challenge National Finals held at Great Meadow in The Plains, VA.  For their achievement, the teammates shared a $20,000 prize and were invited to represent the United States at the Paris Air Show International Rocketry Challenge.

On June 20, theTroop 74 Rockateers earned first place in the International Rocketry Challenge representing the United States at the International Paris Air Show after competing against top student rocketeers from across the globe. The UK team placed second, France took third, and Japan came in fourth. Ultimately, the American team’s precision in design, building, and launching its model rocket was unmatched by any other team in the world. From left below are Mak Cheung '28, Thomas Jenkins and Chase Eagan '26. 

Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) sponsors the competition, and its President and CEO, Eric Fanning, later lauded the boys’ accomplishment: “The International Rocketry Challenge – and the American Rocketry Challenge at home in the United States – are launchpads for the next generation of aerospace leaders, and the ingenuity shown by these students today underscores the limitless potential ahead. Congratulations to the Troop 74 Rocketeers on their first-place victory and to all teams for their incredible performances—your achievement today marks the beginning of an exciting journey toward building the rockets of the future.”

The Delbarton community salutes Mak Cheung ’28 and Chase Eagan ’26 and their rockateering teammate Thomas Jenkins for this remarkable rocketry accomplishment!

About the American Rocketry Challenge

Since 2002, the American Rocketry Challenge, the world’s largest student rocket competition, has engaged more than 100,000 middle and high school students in model rocketry. The annual challenge invites students to design, build, and fly rockets to exacting requirements and gain hands-on experience solving engineering problems. Sponsored by Aerospace Industries Association, the National Association of Rocketry, and more than 15 industry, government, and academia partners, the American Rocketry Challenge is the aerospace and defense industry’s flagship program designed to encourage students to pursue study and careers in STEM. The program has launched countless careers in aerospace and defense, and its alumni are helping to engineer the vehicles that will take us back to the moon, and, one day, on to Mars. www.rocketcontest.org