Oak Park’s Rocketry Team placed 30th in the nation in the 14th annual Team America Rocketry Challenge May 12.

The team was one of the 100 teams selected from a pool of more than 750 to advance to the finals, before placing 30th overall. After qualifying, the team went to Washington, D.C., to test their rocket on Capitol Hill in the national competition.

“We did pretty well in qualifications and I [was] looking forward to seeing how far we [would] go,” senior Drew Esmay said.

The team met twice a week since the start of the year, conducting more than 50 test flights to prepare for qualifications and now competition. The Boeing Company and Friends of Oak Park Schools sponsor the team.

Each year, the American Rocketry Challenge presents new specifications for participants to follow.  This year the team was required to build the rocket lighter than normal to be able to carry two eggs.

Rocket club advisor and district superintendent Tony Knight said he was looking forward to watching his team and their rocket soar in competition.

“I enjoy seeing students gets excited about aeronautics, flight, space and rocketry. It was fun to see all of the other teams from around the U.S. at the competition and see the rockets they designed,” Knight wrote in an email.

Competing at the national competition would provide a new challenge to the Rocketry Team, which would need to compensate for different weather conditions than in California.

“Besides the challenge of the rocket launch itself, it [was] hard to tell how we [would] fare in competition this year because of the different atmospheric conditions in Virginia than what we were used to at our launch site,” sophomore and club president Aviv Maish said.

Among weather concerns, the team needed to consider unfavorable wind patterns.

“Our assigned launch window was later than other teams which may mean we will have to deal with stronger winds than those competing earlier in the day,” Maish said before the competition.

The team’s rocket was 27 feet off-target, leaving them with a total 27 points at the national competition.

¨We were unable to conduct a second flight due to poor weather conditions. It was deemed too dangerous to be out in the open,” Esmay said.

Rocket club members are looking forward to their future in light of this year’s performance.

“Next year I am excited to help make an entirely new rocket to meet new requirements,” junior Daniel Esmay said. “We hope to reach the finals again.”