Thirty-nine teens are preparing rockets for the 2004 Team America Rocketry Challenge, a national model rocket competition they all hope to attend this May. The best 100 teams in the nation will compete at the Great Meadow in The Plains, Va.

A grand-prize pool of more than $50,000 in cash and savings bonds will be shared among the top 10 high school and middle school teams. The competition is organized by the Aerospace Industries Association and the National Association of Rocketry and supported by groups such as the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

But these Los Gatos students don't attend meetings once a week to prepare for competition because it is required or because they get credit—rather, it is a popular after-school activity the students choose to attend. They even take notes. And some of the participants are so dedicated that even though they now attend Los Gatos High School, they still come back to Fisher for the rocketry program.

"We usually joke around a lot, so it's not like a class," said eighth-grader Trami Nguyen.

At the program's second meeting of the year, students learned from rocket expert, electrical engineer and mentor Charles Winter about the forces that act upon a rocket in flight.

"The more you get into this, the more complex the problem becomes," said Steve Hum, a teacher at Fisher who serves as an adviser and volunteers his time with the program.

If they make it to the Great Meadow, the students will face the obstacle of launching a model rocket, weighing about 3 pounds or less, 1,250 feet up in the air. The rocket must land safely, using a parachute, without breaking "the payload"—two large, raw Grade A eggs—enclosed inside the rocket.

"If the eggs break at all, even before you get them into the rocket, you are disqualified," said eighth-grader Jessica Hartsell, one of the team leaders.

Hum said the students are learning to set goals in teams, delegate responsibilities, and form strategies about how to design, fly and test their rockets.

"We're figuring out the diameter and weight of the egg," said eighth-grader Rosemary Kling during the meeting.

While they can do some of the testing at Fisher, the students also launch rockets periodically at Robertson Community Park in Livermore. The students evaluate their results, figuring out what went right and wrong from each liftoff and landing. And the students were also recently interviewed about rocketry for an upcoming program that will air on The History Channel at a later date.

"The key to this is to build the rocket in a simulation program on the computer," Hum said, adding that he pays for the computer software and program costs out of his own pocket, with donations from parents.

The team is currently looking for sponsors. Because of expensive fees associated with the upcoming challenge, the school has just four teams. But they all hope to be able to travel to the competition. They are also in need of two laptop computers, with Microsoft Windows operating system version 98 or later, so they can transport their data and simulation programs with them to the launch site in Livermore.

The program wouldn't be possible without a teacher like Hum, said Hartsell, describing her adviser as a person who listens and cares about the ideas of his students.

"Mr. Hum is awesome. He's not like most of our teachers. I don't think he ever grew up," Hartsell said.

With Hum's help, the students are designing their rockets—from nose cones to fin designs—testing their rockets in flight and then adjusting the computer's simulated version to reality. Temperature, humidity and weather can affect how a rocket flies on a particular day, Hum said. An altimeter device is used to gauge the barometric pressure as the rocket goes up in flight.

"This goes beyond what they learn in school. It's a model of setting goals," said Hum, who teaches an elective course, UXL or the "You Excel" class, which focuses on goal setting and science experiments. "It is really hard to define, but it's about creating exceptional adults. Middle school is this zone from childhood to adulthood."

He added that students should be encouraged to play and discover during this age range through programs such as rocketry.

"I enjoy the excitement and energy when the students figure things out," Hum said. "They really have to earn the gratification."

In last year's competition, one of Fisher's teams placed 26th out of 872 teams in the nation. Of those 872 teams, 865 were high school teams. But what Hum said was disappointing to the Fisher students was that they saw themselves as a top 10 team and expected to win. They plan to go back this spring more prepared and with the same, if not more, confidence.

"I'm learning that you can do anything you set your mind to," said Hartsell. "We also think we can do it because Mr. Hum believes in us."