It was a beautiful sight. It was a combination of the movies “Rudy” and “Rocky.” It was David against Goliath. It was a victory at Little Big Horn.
We were underestimated and discounted with our little wooden and cardboard rocket. We were competing against engineering schools--UW-Milwaukee, Marquette, Milwaukee School of Engineering, Lawrence College and Alverno College--a total of nine colleges and universities. Only three were successful. Our little rocket--Golden Eagle--took on the giants. Our competitors had sleek-looking rockets made of fabricated fiberglass, carbon-fiber and kits purchased from the internet. College of Menominee Nation’s (CMN) homemade Golden Eagle resembled a fat dill pickle or an over-stuffed bratwurst--but it had a lot of heart. Our team, family and friends waited patiently for more than seven hours to launch—although, we were one of first teams in-line. It was clear that rocket officials didn't want to risk the data flight computer in CMN's fragile-looking vehicle. By the end of Saturday's competition, other schools lost, damaged and destroyed the on-flight computers. The challenge was to design, build, fly and recover the high-powered rocket that would fly to an altitude of at least 3000 feet and then capture a photograph of a specially constructed image on the ground.
Golden Eagle took off straight as an arrow and performed beyond our wildest dreams. We launched the rocket without the data flight computer. Judges acknowledged that CMN’s rocket achieved altitude over 5000 feet. CMN's "Rocket Team" was led by the visionary leadership of Dan Hawk and his merry team of fellow students which included; Louis Ortiz, Shane Skenandore, Juanita Matson, and David Stephany. Faculty support and guidance was provided by Erin Thomas and Rudy Raminger. Our rocket landed intact in the arms of a 40 foot tree over two miles from the launch site and 15 feet from a lake. The recovery team did a magnificent job. All of us wore the CMN baseball caps with pride, as Golden Eagle carried our hopes and dreams for the college. The Wisconsin Space Grant Consortium competition was held at the Richard Bong State Recreation Area in Kenosha on April 20-21, 2007 --formerly the land of the Menominee Nation. Good spirits carried our rocket. Victory is sweet.
CMN is the first tribal college to enter a rocket competition. We won the prize even if we are not awarded first place. The jury is out for final examination by the judges pending our report and photos. At the end of the day, CMN’s rocket team was standing a little bit taller and they reached out and touched the sky just for a moment. We can’t wait for next year’s competition.
This was the Little Rocket That Could.
