New Year Rocketry Events

Merry Christmas!  Happy Holidays!  Season's Greetings!  Happy New Year!  I hope you all had a fun and safe holiday season!  I was so busy with school this semester that I didn't really have a chance to update the blog.  It's crazy to me that it's been almost a year since I started this blog for an English assignment, and realized that I actually liked it!  I really appreciate all of you that read it and all the comments and suggestions that you've given me.

At the beginning of each new year, I begin to think about the national and regional events that are coming up, not only in my personal life, but for the rocketry community.  This year is full of great events and chances to meet up with each other.  The first event is NARCON, which is the last weekend of February in Washington D.C.  At NARCON this year will be the presentation of the new NAR Competition Program during one of the sessions on Saturday, February 25th.  While a lot of you are enjoying the museum, the dinners, the shop talk, and presentations, I will be in my dorm room studying for midterms.  Yay college!

After things start warming up here on the east coast, we head into rocketry season, or "spring" as the non-rocketry community calls it.  With the warm weather comes the smell of gunpowder and streaks of fluorescent tracking powder at regionals, picnics, high power launches, and sport lunches.  And before you know it, we'll all be headed to Michigan for NARAM 59.  Which means that building for NARAM should start now... but there are still 6 months so putting it off a little longer can't hurt, right?  The NARAM events for this year look like a lot of fun!  It should be another great event out in Michigan.  Thanks to the crew out in Muskegon for hosting us all again!

Thank you all again for checking in and giving helpful feedback!  I hope you have a great New Year and enjoy NARCON!  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

NARAM 58 Summary

It's been almost a month since NARAM ended and I didn't do any of the posts that I planned on doing giving updates on how great it was!  I thought I did a post about Tuesday, but I guess I didn't, so this post is going to be a summary of all things NARAM 58 post Monday Madness.

Tuesday was D Rocket Glider Destruction day and the carry over from G Streamer Duration.  D RG was a fun event that I finished building our model for the night before.  Tuesday morning, we went out and set it up on the pad and it went straight up beautifully, arced over and snapped the wing spar in two places.  The wing stayed intact, so we glued it back together and tried again and had a repeat. The wing is still in perfect condition... maybe I'll try again another time.

Tuesday night was also the Cannon Benefit Auction.  The auction was run by Randy and Amanda Boadway who did a phenomenal job auctioning off the items!  There was also a special guest appearance by Vern and Gleda Estes.  Vern brought a couple of items from their private collection to auction off.

Wednesday began with what some of us lovingly refer to as Stupid Roc, or (1/2A) Super Roc altitude, and A Helicopter.  Team Qualified Flight came, we flew, and we hit the pool, until the SQS meeting that afternoon.  The Expanding Competition Subcommittee had their formal presentation at 6 pm and personally I thought it went really well.  The committee gave a basic overview of the draft of SQS and answered questions and addressed concerns that were presented at the presentation.  They also explained that a draft of SQS will be on the NAR website for members of the NAR to make recommendations on how to make the draft better.  They said the page will be up only for helpful comments and suggestions, not as a forum for members to go back and forth, that is why Croc exists.  Wednesday night was also the night for A and C division R&D report presentations.

Thursday was all about C Parachute Duration Multi Round.  There were a lot of great flights on Wednesday and a lot of models that were thought to be lost forever that kept making their way back.  B and T Divisions gave their R&D reports on Thursday night.  Downstairs, scale models were on display for everyone to look at and admire.

Friday was Plastic Model Mayhem and E Scale Altitude.  There were a lot of beautiful and successful flights, but there were also some heartbreaking crashes.  Plastic Model Mayhem always keeps everyone on their toes!  

Throughout the week, there was a Fly-It-Take-It tent where kids visiting NARAM could go pick up a premade model and fly it over on the sport range before taking it home.  Also on the sport range were a couple of fun high-power competitions that received recognition at the banquet Friday night with the other competition awards.  Another award that was presented Friday was the Gregorek Award.  This award recognizes an A division competitor that shows excellent craftsmanship in a non-craftsmanship event.  This year, the award was presented to Ryan Estrada for his D Rocket Glider.

John Hochheimer was introduced as the new NAR president and thanked John Buckley and the hosting sections for putting on a wonderful NARAM.  Mr. Buckley also thanked the sections who helped him put together NARAM, as well as his mentors who were former contest directors, and his wife who helped to set everything up and keep him sane.  As of right now, there has been no official announcement of where/when NARAM 59 will be.

Thank you to John Buckley, Jackie Buckley, Saint Louis Rocketry Association, Kansas City Association of Rocketry, Kansas Organization for Spacemodeling, Launch Crue, Missouri Civil Air Patrol, and Teeniemunde Rocket Club for putting on a fantastic NARAM!  Thank you to the new national board for sacrificing your time and energy to improve the hobby, and thank you to the committees that have been formed, both past and present, for the work that you have done, are doing, and will do to promote and expand model rocketry as a hobby.

At this point I am back at college, so I will update the blog as much as I can, but school comes first.  Hopefully I'll be able to post something once in awhile.  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

NARAM 58- Monday

The first official contest flight of NARAM was flown by Qualified Flight, Pool, then Beverages on Monday morning.  Our Open Spot Landing model, Bunny, flew great but was outside of the  measuring circle around the spot.  The spot was a florescent orange cow skull.... welcome to NARAM at Missouri, there's always something interesting and fun!  G Streamer Duration had to be pushed off because of the low cloud deck.  Because of that, there weren't a lot of flights yesterday.

The Town Hall Meeting was Monday night with the elections of the Board of Trustees and the State of the NAR.  The 2012-2016 NAR President, Ted Cochran, made his last Town Hall Meeting presentation and was presented a plaque for his service, which was followed by a standing ovation from the entire room.

The events for Tuesday are D Rocket Glider and potentially G Streamer Duration.  In the evening will be the Cannon Auction at 7 pm, so bring your money!  Wednesday is  1/2 A Super-Roc Altitude with altimeter and A Helicopter Duration with the SQS presentation from the committee from 6-8 pm and the A and C division R&D reports following the presentation.  Questions will be answered after the presentation from the committee.

Stay tuned for Tuesday's updates tomorrow, now that my D Rocket Glider has been built.... twice.  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

NARAM 58- Travel and Sunday Night Meeting

Springfield, Missouri in the summer is hot, humid, beautiful, and this year it is where NARAM (National Association of Rocketry Annual Meet) 58 is being held, which makes it fun!  My dad, my sister, and I made the drive out to Missouri and made it to the event hotel around midday on Friday.  Missouri looks a lot like Pennsylvania in Springfield, but around other areas, it's really flat.

The Lamplighter Inn is a nice event hotel for this year.  The staff is really nice and helps in anyway they can to accommodate all of our needs.  The rooms don't have a lot of storage space in the double bed rooms, but it's very doable.  For the first time ever I have taken advantage of the build room.  I never knew what a fantastic place it is!  My D Glider is coming along a little slower than I intended, but it's more fun piecing it together while talking to other modelers that are doing last minute builds and adjustments as well.

Saturday afternoon, my mom joined us in Springfield and Sunday morning we decided to checkout the field and walk down vendor row.  The field here is fantastic!  We are on a big farm field with lots of cows all around us.  There were a lot of vendors on the field on Sunday and lots of locals were taking advantage of the Fly-It-Take-It tent.

After a quick trip to the field, we decided it was time for a little tourist attraction trip... yes you can do that at a NARAM!  We went to Fantastic Caverns and explored their really cool caves.  The caves are 60 degrees Fahrenheit all year round, so it was literally cool.  There was a lot of history with the caves and it was a really interesting and fun experience.  Fantastic Caverns has one of the only driving tours through a cave in the world.  If you get a chance to go, you definitely should check it out.

My teammate and I took the afternoon on Sunday to decorate our PMC (Plastic Model Conversion) before turn in and had fun with decorating "The Bunny" for Open Spot Landing and a G Streamer model that our other teammate sent and swore would be decorated before he sent it.... Mike this is what happens when you leave Bubbles and Sparkles to decorate your models.

Sunday night was the competitors' briefing and scale turn in.  The briefing was pretty short and answered a lot of questions about the field and the rules for first time competitors.  There were reminders about rules and requirements for scale and some of the altitude events, which led to some hole drilling for our E Scale Altitude model before turn in.

NARAM 58 is going really well so far and has been a lot of fun.  Competition started today with a couple of hitches with weather.  We will have the Town Hall Meeting tonight starting at 7 pm central time.  Tuesday is the Cannon Benefit Auction at 7 pm, Wednesday is the presentation on SQS at 6 pm and Research and Development for A and C divisions from 8-10 pm.The NARAM 58 website is staying updated with the announcements about the field, flying, and other events, check there if you have any questions: http://www.naram58.org/.  Chris Taylor has been taking amazing pictures of everything going on and got a video of last night's meeting, so check out his website, NARAMLive, for pictures of the fun and maybe some videos later too!

I'll try to do more updates throughout the week.  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

Letter to You, My Friends

Hey everyone!

My first year of college is finally under my belt and I have made the adjustment from dorm living back to living at home and back to working.  Because of finishing my Spring semester of college, taking finals, making those transitions, and having a social life (yes I do have one!), it's been a bit of a struggle making it back here to give you all an update.  I am finally back with an update/letter that I felt was necessary for myself and that I hope you will read all the way through and consider.

A lot has changed since my last update.  The new system WILL NOT be in effect for the next NARAM, it will only be formally presented at NARAM 58.  There will be a period of time for evaluation/revision.  Please take note of this.  There has been a lot of confusion, frustration, and fear about this, it will not be in effect immediately.  Next, the committee knows there are concerns and skeptics (keep in mind I do not speak for them and am not part of the meetings, ContestRoc is an open source for everyone).   They are still competitors and know your concerns, they have been listening to them for years.  They are transforming ideas every day to make this new system fit the needs of the hobby as best as possible.  Please trust them to do this.  I know trusting people is hard sometimes, but I think you will all be very happy with the results.  Trust the people in the committee, they were chosen for a reason and come from all realms of the competition world.

Please give the committee a chance.  Please give the new system a chance to finish being developed before you start over analyzing details that aren't even on paper yet.  Please wait for the committee to present what it has, you will get better results by giving them time and room to work.

I apologize for the late update, but before I end this post, I have something I would like you to consider.  How can you judge a child's attitude, performance, behavior, ambition, or personality before it is fully formed and born?  How can you judge this system when it is also still being formed and not ready to be introduced to the world?  Have patience, have faith, have trust because I have hope that this system will solve more problems than I ever intended it to solve, just as a child can grow to become so much more than you could ever imagine.  When I sat down during NARAM 57 and wrote my article, I only had the basis of an idea to help B Division.  Now the committee is working on so much more than just helping to save B Division, they're helping to restore the hobby.  This hasn't been my project since last summer, it is theirs and they are doing amazing things!

Yours,
Michala

Board Meeting Update

I did everything I could this morning to keep myself busy and to forget what time it was.  I went to my class, stopped by the research lab, began doing my make-up work, watched YouTube videos, I even cleaned up  my dorm room!  It felt like today went on forever.  I was completely aware of the time throughout the entire day.

As 3:00 approached, I became more excited and anxious.  I found more things to do, more ways to distract myself.  3:30 came and slowly left, then 4:00, 4:30, and then 5:00.  I still hadn't heard any news about the presentation on SQS.  Dad promised to let me know how things went as soon as he could.  What was taking so long?

I was getting worried around 6:00 when I still hadn't heard anything.  I started to think that maybe the board didn't like the idea after all, maybe everything was going too fast.  Just as I was starting to think that he wouldn't tell me until after dinner, Dad sent me the text I had been waiting for at 6:19.  I held my breath as I opened it.

"Unanimous approval to move forward.  Full final package to be ready for presentation at NARAM town hall.  NARAM 59 will be the first under the new system."

It's happening!  SQS will be implemented!  When I got the text, I couldn't believe it.  We were all expecting to have more revisions and for a longer process.  From the moment I put thoughts to paper, this entire process has never been slow.

via GIPHY

I am so excited, blown away, and humbled right now.  It's so amazing to think that at this time next year, I will be getting ready to fly at the first NARAM under SQS rules and guidelines.  The committee has done such an amazing job getting SQS this far and there is no doubt in my mind that they will have the "final package" ready in time to present at the Town Hall meeting in July.  There's still a lot to be done and I will be starting an outreach to help give SQS a kick-start here at Penn State.  

This is just the beginning of the journey and I can't wait to watch this all play out!  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

Where Are We Now?

Three weeks into my first semester at Penn State, I was sitting in my room about to put a bag of popcorn in the microwave when I got a text from Mom, "Call your dad.  It's important."

I sighed, threw my popcorn in the microwave, hit start, and brought up Dad's number.  The phone barely rang twice before he picked up.  The first few kernels started to pop as he began to talk.  As the kernels popped faster and louder, so did my heart.  I couldn't believe what Dad was saying.  The committee he was working on had started the first draft of a statement that would announce their intentions to use my idea to change competition flying forever.  As the smell of salty, buttery popcorn started to fill my dorm room, tears flooded my eyes.  I sank to the floor in front of the microwave and began to laugh.  It was happening.  My idea was going to become a plan, a proposal to change the hobby I love.  I was going to help make an impact and hopefully keep people interested and involved in the hobby.

After that night, the committee began to move on to expand upon their proposal.  Drafts of possible rule sets and guidelines were made.  A completely new form of competition began to be developed.  My idea was given a name, NAR Spacemodeling Qualifier Series, or SQS.  I have been given a couple drafts of SQS to look over and make comments on, and Zach just saw SQS for the first time earlier this week.

I could not be more excited about what the committee is doing to shape SQS.  My ideas are still the basis of this new form of competition, but SQS has evolved and developed into a great concept that I could have never created on my own.  

I am so thrilled to report that SQS will be making its first public appearance this Friday, February 26, 2016 at NARCON (National Association of Rocketry Convention) in Dayton, Ohio.  SQS will be presented to the board, sometime after 3:00 pm Eastern Time, by the committee that has brought it this far.  This committee has developed a great set of rules and has thought of different aspects that I would have never thought about.  I look forward to seeing how this committee continues to transform and adjust this idea in order to make it practical and plausible to help drive competitive flying and the hobby in general forward. 

When I started to develop this idea in Arizona during NARAM 57, I didn't let myself think about this idea getting as far as it already has, especially in such a short period of time.  I came up with the general idea that SQS has now transformed into a plausible and realistic set of rules that I believe, with a little more work, could reshape contest flying and drastically improve the hobby. 

I learned a lot about myself during this process and what I am capable of.  I was able to come up with an idea that was deemed interesting enough to warrant further investigation and a committee and may help to evolve my favorite hobby.  I learned that putting myself and my ideas out there can result in amazing connections and great opportunities.  More than anything, though, I proved to myself and others that I am more than capable of stepping up and creating solutions, even when no one expects a solution to be found.  Today, don't be afraid to step up in a new way or share an idea.  You never know what may happen.

As soon as I know more about how things went at NARCON, I'll create another update, so stay tuned to see how everything turns out!  Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

Articles, Committees, and the Vice President

The airplanes that we flew on on the way home weren't up nearly as high as my spirits were as we made the long trip back to Pennsylvania.  As soon as we got back to the house and unloaded the car, I began to draft an email to John H. with my article attached.  It was late and my parents were in bed by the time I finished.  I sent the email first thing the next morning and anxiously waited a reply.  In the mean time, a final version of the article was sent to PSC for the newsletter.

John replied rather quickly to my email.  He liked the idea and wanted to do something about it and see what could be done to make my idea a reality!  Nothing was official, but he thought it could work, and that's all I needed to hear.  He began to talk about committees and how my article could take shape into something great.  He was working on setting up two different committees and wanted me to join the committee that he would be heading.  My role would be minor.  I would give advice on how to implement ideas in order to get more B division aged contestants involved in the hobby.  Dad was brought onto the committee that would be shaping my idea into a possible reality.

I was over the moon!  Things had been taking shape so quickly I could barely wrap my mind around it all.  In less than a week, I had taken an idea, written it out, tested a small group's reaction, shared it with the vice president, and my article was having a committee formed around it to develop it and create a possible implementation.  Talk about whiplash!

I was so excited, and everyone was excited for me.  I had the potential to change the entire hobby, hopefully for the better.

The next couple weeks flew by quickly.  I went to a picnic with PSC after the newsletter was released and a lot of people were talking about it.  Everyone was excited.  People knew that committees were being formed, but no one knew that my article was going to be the primary focus of Dad's committee.  Those details were being kept a "secret" for now, more of a don't ask don't tell situation.

I began packing for college and figured that the rapid pace that my article was moving at would slow down quite a bit, I just hoped that it wouldn't be thrown out.  I arrived at Penn State and began to adjust to college life.  I was only on campus for a couple weeks when I got a call that changed my perspective completely.

Until next time,  fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

Change of Plans

For the rest of the week, I was on cloud 9.  I had an article that everyone seemed to like that was already promised to be published in the Pittsburgh Space Command Newsletter as soon as we returned home, and I had an idea of what to do after that.  Granted, it wasn't an idea with a guaranteed positive outcome, but it was still a plan.

The rest of the week seemed to slip away.  As a family, we explored Tuscon a little bit at a time, enjoyed the local food, and took some great pictures along the way.  I didn't have many events that I was flying in at NARAM, so I found myself helping other competitors from my club and some of our friends from other clubs.  Zach and I kept talking about the article with our dads when no one else was really around and the Flying I-Beam Kids joined in occasionally as well.

Photo by Chris Taylor

Every year, the NAR helps a group of students from India to come to NARAM in order to build and fly rockets.  Since I really didn't plan on flying much, I decided to offer the vice president of the NAR, John H., my assistance on Thursday.  He almost immediately agreed since the group from India was flying a lot of models that day.  I had a lot of fun helping the crew from India and trying some of their snacks they brought along with them.  At the end of the day, they all got flown and John asked if I would be willing to help in the future.  I had a lot of fun, so I immediately agreed.

Friday night was the awards banquet.  NARAM was coming to an end.  I was excited to get home and start putting the wheels in motion to get my article out there for everyone to see.  The awards banquet seemed to go by quickly, and we began to socialize with our friends and say good bye until the next year.  John H. came over to thank me for my help and then he began talking to my dad.  I was sucked into another conversation, but when I looked back over awhile later, they were still talking.

When Dad and I finally made it back to the hotel room, he shut the door and handed me a business card.  I took it, thoroughly confused.  He looked at me and gave me a huge smile.  I looked down at the card in my hand, it was John's card.  I became even more confused.  Dad explained that he had been talking to John about "The B Division Problem".  John was getting worried that the problem was getting too big and no one seemed to know how to fix it.  No one on the board seemed to know what to do.  Dad had told him about my article and told him "What would you say if I told you that the kids are already coming up with ideas on how to fix it?"  Dad proceeded to tell him about my article.  John was interested.  The vice president of the NAR wanted to read my article!

Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!

Gaining Traction

Wednesday night, I headed down to the ballroom area with my parents for the A and B division Research and Development (R&D) presentations.  I usually look forward to listening to and presenting on this night of the competition, but I had decided not to submit my own report.  Instead, I was there strictly as an audience member, which was fun, but it couldn't distract me from wondering if Zach had read my article.

I sat there through presentation after presentation waiting and wondering.  I even perked up a little during Zach's presentation, but it still wasn't enough to distract me for long.  When the presentations finally ended, I began talking to some of the A and B division contestants and answered questions about why I hadn't presented tonight.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw someone walking toward me.  It was Zach.  

We fielded questions and made small talk with people as we slowly made our way toward the door and out into the hallway.  Once we were outside, we found a table out of the way and sat down.  Quietly we began taking about the article, careful so that no one overheard us.  He really truly liked the ideas and the concepts!  He thought it could work and, just as I suspected, he wanted to help!  He had shown the article to his dad and they were all in, they just needed to know what to do.  Only problem was, I wasn't completely sure what was next either.

Dad and I had talked about a couple of options already.  The best idea we had at the time was to publish the article in the club's newsletter first, then after getting some feedback there, I would submit the article to Sport Rocketry, the national magazine, and see what happened.  It wasn't a great plan, but it was the best I could do.  In the meantime, everyone promised to keep things quiet until after NARAM... or at least that was the plan, but plans change.

Until next time, fly high, stay safe, and have fun!