The idea to create a model rocketry club first came to mind at the beginning of 2023. We had just discovered the hobby and found it very interesting. As searches for existing organizations in the area were unsuccessful, we decided to start a local group to bring youth of our age together to build rockets. Hobbies can be expensive and intimidating to enter, so we thought that creating a small club would enable more people to learn about and participate in model rocketry.
Our goals were to introduce the hobby to different people while building new friendships, and we believe that the project was very successful in this regard. Although we were not able to recruit anyone from different schools to participate, our meetings and launches still maintained an attendance rate of 12-20 participants. We hosted three launches and had a large build event, where over a dozen youths worked either in pairs or individually to construct their own model rocket based on our design.
In terms of challenges, we had done a large amount of research in order to ensure that our rocket designs and launches were safe and functional, but it was still necessary to solve a lot of problems that could only be uncovered through practical experience. Nonetheless, we were able to resolve all the major issues with our model rocket designs and learned a lot about problem-solving in the process. We also faced some challenges regarding organization. It was especially difficult to find meeting times that would work with all members, as many of us had a heavy workload due to school and other extracurricular commitments. Time was a bit of an issue as well since the project was started near the end of the school year, and there were many more members than there were leaders. In the end, we were able to squeeze in the group launch event before summer break, but we noted that it would be necessary to provide a streamlined procedure for future builds.
Overall, we had a great time discovering the hobby of model rocketry together and building new friendships. In the future, we plan to continue and expand the club, as well as introduce new model rocket features as we all gain more experience.
