The Highland High School aerospace program launched into its second year this fall.

Last week, on a cold and windy Wednesday morning, students launched the rocket they have been working on since the beginning of the school year.

On Friday, members of Team Extremely Dysfunctional made a presentation about their experience.

Senior Justin Rossman offered a definition of success.

“What does success look like?” Rossman asked. “The rocket works. The rocket deploys its parachute, did not become a free-falling projectile, and the rocket did not break.”

Freshman Adrian Rodriguez said the launches were not successful according to their definition.

“We did not succeed as we intended to succeed,” Rodriguez said. “The parachute didn’t deploy out of the rocket (on the second trial). The fins broke on the third trial.”

Freshman Paul Garcia said that weather played a significant factor.

“The wind just slapped it out of the sky,” Garcia said. “Warmer and less windy weather would help.”

The students used computer-aided design (CAD) to design their rocket.

Each team member came up with designs for the nose cone and fins, then the team graded the designs to choose the best one.

“On decision matrix, we list attributes of what we need it to be like,” Rossman explained. “We score it by giving it values and test it to see which one works the best.”

Garcia said they used a 3-D printer to make the nose cone and a laser cutter to cut the fins from balsa wood.

Learning skills such as the use of CAD, 3-D printers and laser cutters are part of the aim of Highland’s aerospace program.

“CAD skills will give them a competitive advantage,” instructor Tim Surine said. “That’s what’s next on the horizon. CAD is becoming an industry standard.”

Surine said that the program was championed by former Superintendent Mike Jorgensen, who served on the board of the Southern Regional Education Board (SREB).

The aerospace curriculum was designed by SREB, and the Highland district was able to secure a Washington County Riverboat Foundation grant to pay for the full curriculum.

In the summers of 2018 and 2019, Surine and industrial arts teacher Brian Haymond were trained in the curriculum.

Ultimately, the goal is for the aerospace program to become a four-year curriculum, Surine said.

Next year, Aerospace 1 and 3 will be taught in the first semester, while Aerospace 2 and 4 will be offered in the second semester.

Future projects will include working with a wind tunnel and making gliders.

The district is in discussions with Indian Hills Community College to help the program become accredited.

“Students who can get accreditation going through the whole program will have a leg up if they go into an engineering or aerospace engineering program,” Surine said.