Troop 74 Rocketeers (NJ) are American Rocketry Challenge National Champs

[RememberSchiff]

Boy Scouts Troop 74 from Montville, NJ, today soared their way to victory, earning the title of National Champion at the 23rd American Rocketry Challenge National Finals held at Great Meadow in The Plains, VA.

Boy Scouts Troop 74, whose team name is “The Troop 74 Rocketeers,” outperformed a record-breaking 1,001 teams that entered the competition at the start of the year and bested the top 100 teams competing at National Finals on Saturday. This is the team’s first time qualifying for National Finals. Their precision in designing, building, and launching a model rocket was unmatched by any other team in the country.

Boy Scouts Troop 74 students will take home $20,000 for their engineering prowess and will represent the United States in the International Rocketry Challenge at the Paris Air Show in June.

...

“Today feels surreal—we weren’t expecting to win,” said Makayo (Mak), a Boy Scouts Troop 74 teammate. “Seeing a score of two from another team after the first round was crazy compared to our score of 16, but we stayed optimistic for our second launch. Once we realized we were in the top 10, we were excited that we might actually have a chance to win. Our biggest challenge was building a consistent rocket. Our launch tower took nearly two hours to assemble today, and balancing it against strong winds was tricky, but we were prepared. A huge shoutout to Chase, who couldn’t be here today. We worked hard as a team— Chase was in charge of management and scheduling, I led design and building, and Thomas assisted with assembly and launch preparation. For future teams competing in the American Rocketry Challenge, our biggest piece of advice is to be consistent.”

Boy Scouts Troop 74, a third-year Boy Scouts of America (BSA) team, excels in rocketry through innovative design, consistency, and function, driven by Scout spirit. The team consists of three dedicated scouts: Mak, Thomas, and Chase. They collaborate to engineer model rockets, learning more about aerodynamics for successful launches. They ensure consistent builds for reliable flights and prioritize functional designs that soar.

The team’s victory follows months of dedicated preparation designing, building, and testing a rocket capable of meeting rigorous mission parameters set by the competitions’ sponsors – the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA), National Association of Rocketry, and 15 other industry, government, and academia partners. To qualify for the finals, each team designed, built, and launched a model rocket that safely carried two eggs to an altitude of 790 feet, stayed airborne for between 41 and 44 seconds, and returned the rocket to the ground safely. At the National Finals, a Friday night coin flip determined that competing teams had to launch the rockets to 815 feet in the first round of competition. The top 42 teams conducted a second launch that was required to reach 765 feet.

“Today’s National Finals was a success for all 100 competing teams, who showcased the future of aerospace innovation – built on teamwork, innovative thinking, and practical problem solving,” said AIA President and CEO Eric Fanning. “The Boy Scouts Troop 74 Rocketeers exemplified these qualities. After besting 1,001 teams, the team’s incredible achievement will propel them to the international stage at the Paris Air Show in June and set them on a bright and promising path to a career in STEM.”

Scout Salute,

More at sources including photos:

https://rocketcontest.org/news/new-jersey-team-named-national-champion-in-worlds-largest-rocketry-challenge/

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/montville/sections/community-life/articles/paris-bound-montville-boy-scouts-win-national-rocketry-competition

Edited June 3 by RememberSchiff

[jcousino]

Sounds great wayto go but it looks like the it would not met scouting guide for rocketry. So not an approved scout activity

[RememberSchiff]

20 hours ago, jcousino said:

Sounds great wayto go but it looks like the it would not met scouting guide for rocketry. So not an approved scout activity

Ugh. Where?

Remember, not so long ago, when the Guide To Safe Scouting was available as a freely downloadable PDF which one could easily SEARCH, PRINT, HIGHLIGHT?

Instead now we have an online version which is extremely difficult to search. Very tedious.

Let's go back to a downloadable PDF with release date and version number clearly printed (BOLD, LARGE FONT) on cover and each page footnote and the National download page clearly showing current release date and version number.

P.S. Okay I did find some online downloadable PDF's.

2019: https://scoutingevent.com/Download/80372330/OR/Guide_to_Safe_Scouting.pdf     with CSE Michael Surbaugh

2021: https://pathwaytoadventure.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/guide-to-safe-scouting.pdf

404 Not Found: https://filestore.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34416.pdf

My $0.02,

[InquisitiveScouter]

@jcousino would you please cite your source, and provide a link for your claim?

G2SS makes no prohibitions on model rocketry.

The only model rocket parameters discussed anywhere that I know of are in Space Exploration MB, which says in Requirement 3,

" Build, launch, and recover a model rocket.* Make a second launch to accomplish a specific objective. (Rocket must be built to meet the safety code of the National Association of Rocketry. See the "Model Rocketry" chapter of this pamphlet.) Identify and explain the following rocket parts: NOTE: *If local laws prohibit launching model rockets, do the following activity: Make a model of a NASA rocket. Explain the functions of the parts. Give the history of the rocket.

Since the National Association of Rocketry was a sponsor of the event, I'd bet the rockets in the challenge had to meet their standards.

Ironically, the G2SS DOES PROHIBIT this activity.  See Prohibited Activities, item #22 at https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/gss/gss07/#b

22. Intramural, interscholastic, or club sport competitions or activities.

IMO, silly that this prohibition is in there, but it is there nonetheless.

Nothing wrong with a group of Scouts competing, but BSA somehow says they just cannot compete AS a group of Scouts.  SMH....What has the world come to?

 

[jcousino]

https://www.scouting.org/health-and-safety/safety-moments/rocket-safety/

 

its not activity itself i did the same while in HS its the use of the egg as loosely stated payloads are not allowed plus them building their own launch pad may be not manufacturing approved.  i could not find must else not really a big mater but we know at times the BSA can be picky at times again hats off to their award. i am surprised remember reading more based on suggest searches there may have need more. 

[RememberSchiff]

9 hours ago, jcousino said:

i did the same while in HS its the use of the egg as loosely stated payloads are not allowed plus them building their own launch pad may be not manufacturing approved.

Our manufacturer launch rods were often bent and pads flimsy so we created our own. 

[jcousino]

I can not find a photo of the rocket, but looking at the rules and thrust allowed by motors, I see that these are not the standard balsa wood rockets we shot as kids. Still, it is a great achievement. 

[RememberSchiff]

7/20/2025 Update:

Montville Boy Scouts Blast Off to Global Victory, Win International Rocketry Challenge in Paris

...The winning team was composed of rising Montville Township High School sophomore Thomas Jenkins, and Delbarton School students Makayo “Mak” Cheung (rising sophomore) and Chase Eagan (rising senior). 

Their Parisian adventure, spanning from June 17 to June 22, had to begin with some tweaking of their rocket from the U.S. competition, such as adapting their rocket to the Paris launch tower. 

Cheung explained, “The (launch) rail was a rectangle shape, which caused a lot of friction.” The team engineered a solution by changing to a circular-shaped rail guide they purchased online and creating custom parts to integrate it with their rocket.

The International Rocketry Challenge is composed of a speech portion and a launch portion. 

"For the speech, we were the third team, and we were very nervous," Jenkins admitted. "But we were rehearsing with each other, and it felt like we did very well." 

Their presentation covered their rocket’s design, testing procedures, and the intricate steps of their design process, followed by a Q&A session. It represented 40% of their total score in the competition.

"They asked us about the challenges we faced in the design process," Eagan said.

Their extensive prep was rewarded, as Eagan said they received the "highest score on the presentation."

The launch day brought its own set of pressures. 

"We had to get up very early,” Eagan said. “We were all in the same room, and we were preparing our rockets and making safety checks.”

Being the first to launch added to the anxiety. 

"That was a lot of pressure,” said Eagan. “We didn’t want to start off poorly.” The suspense continued as they had to wait until the next day for the official results, unsure of their egg's survival or their exact altitude compared to other teams, although they knew they had the best time.

The international competition proved to be incredibly close. 

"The UK team was closer in altitude, being 2 ft off, whereas we were 30 feet off," Cheung said, but that didn’t bother the team, since they had made a strategic decision early on. 

"At the beginning of the season, we decided that we wanted to value time over altitude, and that trade-off helped us with the final results," Cheung explained.

Their strategic decision ultimately secured their victory...

More at Source with photos:

https://www.tapinto.net/towns/montville/sections/community-life/articles/montville-boy-scouts-blast-off-to-global-victory-win-international-rocketry-challenge-in-paris

Next ... the NASA Student Launch Initiative program.  Scout Salute!