Speedfest...

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“Speedfest is one of the largest competitions of its type in the world,” Arena said. “To date, there have been over 10,000 spectators, 1,400 students and 300 college faculty and K-12 teachers participating. At the collegiate level, the students are designing and building their aircraft using state-of-the-art tools and techniques, gaining knowledge that they will need to work in industry.”

The judges that help out at Speedfest are industry professionals that represent major aerospace companies, and one judge described the experience as exceptional.

“I was blown away by the quality and capabilities of the aircraft, the professionalism of the student’s display areas and the overall experience that Speedfest delivered,” a judge said.

The invitational competition, the India Class, is open to 5th-12th grade teams. Their contest is to construct a plane kit that’s provided to try to improve the performance of the aircraft. Modifications to the plane are allowed as long as they follow certain parameters and restrictions. Every team’s plane then competes in a pylon race. Scoring is based on the distance the plane traveled on a two-turn course in two minutes. Turn markers were placed 400 feet apart on the course. Planes are tagged as they pass to calculate their total distance traveled in the time constraints. A record of 31 teams competed in Speedfest this year.

“Our India Class numbers were up by 14 teams, and a total of more than 270 students competing this year, as we only had 17 teams compete in 2022,” said Dorinda Risenhoover, education coordinator for the NASA

Oklahoma Space Grant STEM (NASA OKSG STEM) Education Center. “And I think this increase is greatly due to the NASA OKSG STEM Education Center taking over the pre-competition side of the India Class in 2022, in order to provide around the clock build assistance to these 5th through 12th grade teams.”

The center provides assistance by means of virtual meetings for teams to ask questions and educator professional development events. They also supply extra parts, which ensured educators would not have to use personal funds to buy parts for the contest.

On top of this assistance, CEAT’s K-12 Department of Defense STEM Grant provided $25,000 in funding. This covered travel costs, safety helmets that are required when planes are flying and plane decorating materials for five teams that were in the districts supported by the grant. The money also covered extra supplies during Speedfest for all 31 teams so they could purchase new items and make repairs on their planes as needed. In addition, the grant encompassed all of the supplies for 13 of the teams to complete all 12 of the tactile discovery and inquiry-based NASA OKSG India Class Speedfest Curriculum lessons which reached 150 students. Halliburton supplied the funds for lunch at the event for the 31 teams and the Oklahoma Aerospace Commission gave over $15,000 in funding for the