By Brandi Miller for the FCT

The Red Bay High School Robotics team is working hard to get ready for upcoming competitions that will take place in the spring. The team, in its first year at RBHS, has already shown impressive work in past competitions and is ready to get back to competing in the upcoming months.

The RBHS rocket team will be competing in the TARC rocket competition in March. For this competition, team members must work together to build a rocket and practice shooting the rocket multiple times to perfect the altitude and timing. Perfecting the altitude and timing of the rocket leads to further success in the competition because the team will have practiced in various conditions.

“The TARC competition has proven to be challenging,” said robotics team sponsor Leah Torisky. “It really is ‘rocket science.’ I am so proud of our students for completing a logical model that can actually take off and meet the competition requirements.”

Preparing for this competition has been a team effort. The team has built the rockets to meet the requirements for the competition. They have also bought a weather station to measure the temperature and wind speed so that they can adjust their rocket to certain weather conditions.

The team is excited and confident, but all members agree the most difficult challenge for them is the fact that this is their first year in competition. They know the goal, but they don’t have the experience most of the other teams do.

And what is the ultimate goal of the RBHS rocket team?

“Our ultimate goal as a rocket team is to advance to Virginia, where the top 100 teams will meet,” said Torisky.

Besides the TARC competition in March, the rocket team will also be competing in the Sea Perch competition in April, which is an underwater competition.

Team One members are Daniel Lindsay, Kelly Miller, Gath Weatherford, Morgan Pierce, Jace Pounds and Tate Ozbirn. Team Two members are Ethan Mobley, Darby Madden, Jamal Anderson, Reed Holt, Chandler Allen and Luke Stanford.