Seniors Anthony Lin and Areesh Rehman started the Aerospace Club this year, driven by their shared interest in aerodynamics and physics.

Anthony, who serves as club president, said, “Growing up, I’ve always been interested in space, like Mars missions and building stuff in general. The Aerospace Club encompasses all of that.”

Anthony said he participated in a summer program about rocket science, which inspired him to undergo the club application process in his junior year to create the Aerospace Club with the help of advisor Mark McHugh, who is the Lab Specialist at THHS

Mr. McHugh said, “I’ve been interested in astronomy, and space places since I was in second grade. Some of that has been interesting all my life. And when some students approached me to ask me to be an advisor for the Aerospace Club, I said, ‘yeah, I can do that.’”

Members of the club reasoned that their interest in physics and aerospace for their future careers was their motivation to join the club.

“I’ve had a pre-existing interest in aeronautics…I got into aviation a couple of years ago,” said junior Adam Aptowitz. “I’ve actually thought of building a model rocket or a model boat before, so I think it’s nice to be taught how to build and model it [in the club].”

Currently, the club prioritizes breaking down complex aerospace systems like Newton’s Laws of Motion and machinery to improve conceptual understanding. Members actively participate in lessons through hands-on experiments that explore earth and the universe beyond.

Sophomore Urja Shrestha said, “In the first meeting, we played a Kahoot. In the second one, we did an egg drop lab that explored how drag impacts the motion of aircraft, and in the third one, we built a little model rocket out of paper.”

Areesh, who serves as club vice president, said, “Our lessons are very relevant, and we teach a lot of stuff about not only how rockets are made, but also how they fly and what hurdles they have to go through physically to reach outer space, or a different country.”

“[The] Aerospace Club is more practical and more hands-on than Science Olympiad might be… [it’s] focused more on rocketry and there are some more specific focuses,” said Mr. McHugh.

Areesh said, “This club has very low commitment, unlike a lot of the other STEM clubs like Robotics or Science Olympiad. You don’t have to spend your time religiously studying for [Aerospace Club], which I think makes it a bit more accessible.”

According to Areesh, the board plans to create routines to ensure the club’s success for future years and is considering getting involved in aerospace competitions. This may make the club “a little bit more competitive, but still not like an academic team,” Areesh said.