A shipping mishap almost derailed the dreams of a group of high school students from Bellevue, Washington, but resourcefulness and
determination led them to an impressive performance at the 2026 National Finals of the American Rocketry Challenge. The team ultimately secured second place at Saturday’s competition held in The Plains, Virginia.

Washington Youth Aerospace, based in Redmond, Washington, comprises six freshmen from Interlake High School in Bellevue. Their runner-up finish came from a field of 100 finalist teams, selected from an unprecedented total of 1,107 participating teams nationwide.

The state of Washington had strong representation with 11 teams qualifying for the finals, eight of which hailed from the Seattle area’s Eastside. Four Washington teams earned top-10 placements in the competition.

The American Rocketry Challenge brings together middle and high school students who must design, construct, and launch model rockets. The program’s mission is to encourage young people to consider careers in aerospace and other STEM disciplines.

The second-place achievement earned Washington Youth Aerospace $15,000. However, this success nearly didn’t happen due to a shipping crisis that threatened to prevent their rocket from launching at all.

Ground transportation was required for shipping the rocket motors across the country due to their hazardous classification. According to Sudheer Sirivara, a parent advisor and team chaperone, the package was mailed approximately two and a half weeks before the event. Despite tracking the shipment, it disappeared for an entire week during transit.

By Thursday, the motors had reached New Jersey, and by Friday they were located in Philadelphia. With time running out, Sirivara and the students desperately searched the Washington, D.C., region for a replacement motor matching their design specifications. Their salvation came from an on-site vendor just hours before Saturday’s competition.

Sirivara recalled that the vendor dedicated roughly 25 minutes searching through his inventory, eventually discovering the exact motor they needed buried deep inside his truck. In a twist of irony, the original motors finally arrived via the Postal Service two days after the competition had concluded.

The Washington Youth Aerospace roster includes students Mikhail Antipin, Anay Mediwala, Nikhil Sirivara, Daniel Tadesse, Bao-Ky Tran, and Antoine Vigneron.

Sirivara attributed the team’s rocketry achievements to quality mentorship the students received from teachers at Odle Middle School in Bellevue during their earlier education. He also pointed to the concentration of technology and engineering professionals in the Eastside area, working at companies such as Microsoft, Amazon, and Google, as contributing factors. Sirivara himself serves as an executive VP at Warner Bros. Discovery and previously worked at Microsoft.

Thorough data collection played a crucial role in their success as well. Sirivara emphasized the importance of conducting numerous test launches to gather sufficient data about rocket performance under varying wind conditions, weather patterns, and temperatures.

Competition rules required teams to complete two scored launches. The first launch needed to reach precisely 730 feet, while the second required an altitude of 725 feet. Additionally, rockets had to remain airborne between 36 and 39 seconds and return safely to Earth with intact cargo—a raw egg.

The Bishop’s School from La Jolla, California, captured first place and earned the right to represent the United States at the
international finals. Notably, Newport High School from Bellevue achieved a second-place finish at that international competition several years earlier.

Washington state teams’ final national rankings were: Washington Youth Aerospace of Redmond (2nd), Interlake High School Team 1 of Bellevue (4th), Newport High School Team 2 of Bellevue (6th), Odle Middle School of Bellevue (7th), Newport High School Team 1 of Bellevue (12th), Interlake High School Team 2 of Bellevue (19th), Annie Wright Schools of Tacoma (33rd), Tyee Middle School of Bellevue (38th), SmilingTree of Sammamish (69th), A Sustainable Future of Bellevue (89th), and Colville High School of Colville (89th).

Teams finishing in the top 25 positions receive invitations to NASA’s Student Launch initiative, allowing them to continue their rocketry exploration with high-powered rockets and more complex mission requirements.