Many clubs, especially ones during club day in which time is limited, prioritize having fun above all else. Other clubs lean more towards the academic side of things. On the other hand, some incorporate both learning and fun into club activities. The Rocketry Club, advised by Mr. Michael Netzer, is one such club.
As you might have already guessed, the Rocketry Club focuses on model rocketry. Whether that be for building or launching rockets, those invested in model rocketry are likely to find themselves interested in what this club has to offer. However, what exactly goes on during the Rocketry Club’s meetings?
Firstly, the Rocketry Club is advised by Netzer, but it’s primarily run by several student leaders. The president of the club is Rohil Cheepala (Class of 2025), but there are also other roles such as the vice president, finance lead, rocket safety officer, launch control, and the general control lead.
All of these roles work together to make the club’s schedules and projects function. “I manage the whole club, set up launch dates, and ensure that we have a consistent line of projects for us to work on,” explains Cheepala on the role of the club’s president.
The vice president of the club, Daniel Solomon (Class of 2025), further states that he is “in charge of our experimental and research stuff. Any proposals members have, they bring to me first. I help develop those proposals into a working build.”
Netzer also has a hand when it comes to the club’s activities, as he offers suggestions and guidance to them along the way. As an engineering design and applications teacher, he has prior experience in rocketry, and he has been advising the club for three years. According to Netzer on why he chose to advise the club, “I’ve been interested in both model rockets and space exploration for a long time. I learned about [model rockets] at a NASA workshop where actual rocket scientists taught us all about designing and launching them.”
During club day, the members of the Rocketry Club are involved in a number of things. According to Cheepala, the club deals with project and event scheduling during club day. “Last club day, we finalized our plans for a late-January launch we are discussing with the APs actively right now.”
Solomon added onto this, saying that the topic of club days is usually divided into different categories. “Club days are usually launch days, build days, or discussion and lecture days,” says Solomon.
Unlike several other clubs, the Rocketry Club’s members also get together outside of school hours. This happens on Wednesdays every week, in room C402. During this time, club members are involved in activities tailored to their project team, according to Solomon. Cheepala elaborates on this, saying that “we spend our time actually working and finalizing these projects, as well as going over budgets.”
There is a remarkable range of activities, including those outside of rocketry projects, that Rocketry Club members can participate in. “Events that club members can take part in are bake sales, our new 3D print sales, rocket launches at school, and off-campus rocket launches in association with other official rocket clubs across the northeast and NASA. In the following year, we intend to expand these events further and create more events for people to get excited about,” expresses Cheepala. He has also gone on to say that website development for the club is underway.
Member participation is greatly sought after in the Rocketry Club. Cheepala encourages new members to get involved “by simply showing up to meetings.” He also believes that the club “needs improvement in terms of the actual drive of its members. I am worried that when I graduate, this club will be on decline.”
However, Cheepala also has high hopes for this year’s Rocketry Club. He elaborates that “there is a decent chance that this club will grow further, as this year marks the first year that we’ve seen real public interest.”
Not only can Rocketry Club members get involved in the planning, but they can also have a role in deciding these activities. “Out of school activities are decided by majority vote,” Cheepala says, though he also says that “the club’s leads, including myself, usually meet separately to come up with ideas, although it isn’t uncommon for us to use ideas from other members; we often encourage it.”
Unfortunately, this year the Rocketry Club’s activities are straying away from formal rocketry competitions. “We have decided to move away from those due to those opportunities lacking the ability to cater to new members,” expresses Cheepala.
Solomon adds onto this, saying that “this year was going to be too expensive.” The competition that Solomon is referring to is the ARC, or the American Rocketry Challenge, a national rocketry contest.
Fundraising is a major problem for the Rocketry Club. According to Solomon, “if we can get more into grants, that would be really useful. We’re working to get those grant proposals ready, sending them out, and hopefully getting more fundraising outside of just bake sales.”
Despite these setbacks, it seems that the Rocketry Club has a bright future ahead of it, and it’s likely the club will be involved in more events as the school year progresses.
