The Galileo Rocket Squad is the only team from Idaho that will compete in a national competition in Washington D.C. but for the first time, the STEM Academy qualified both the seventh and eighth grade teams.
Both teams have been preparing for the competition which will be the fourth year Galileo made it to nationals, last year the team finished 13th in the nation.
"It was so much fun doing it with your friends and teammates, it was a once in a lifetime experience," MaKenna Johnston the captain of the 8th-grade team. "Placing 13th in the nation was just incredible and rocket competition itself is so much fun."
Johnston became the first girl to join the club last year, and now there are several girls that help the team strive for new heights.
In the competition, the teams will try to launch a rocket up to 800 feet while not splattering the eggs inside which simulate the astronauts.
Everybody on the team has a different job and these middle schoolers will have their work cut out for them as they face off against mainly high school teams from around the country.
However, because of their success and the fact that this year the STEM Academy is sending 24 students to nationals, they will need some help fundraising.
On Saturday, April 28 they will be at Albertsons in Eagle putting on a car wash from noon to four in an effort to raise money for their trip.
