3,2,1 Blast Off at the MOST’s Rocket Team Challenge

Saturday, June 4th, 2022—The Utica Academy of Science junior-senior high school’s Rocket Team, composed of Almin Yahiyaa, Admir, Mohamed, Messadi, and Mohamed Alharbi never ‘cracked’ under pressure when participating in the MOST’s annual Rocket Team Challenge held at Syracuse University's Skytop Field.

This STEM competition has the Junior Division (grades 4-8) and Senior Division (grades 9-12). To compete, the teams must design and assemble a model rocket kit provided by the MOST. Upon submittal of their rocket, each team is judged on the following criteria:

• Quality of their construction
• Knowledge of the subject
• How well they estimated their trajectory
• Survival of their 'eggstronaut'

Awards are given to the top 4 highest scoring teams in each division, and the team who had the rocket fly the highest, land the farthest and closest to the launch site, had the best team name, etc.