Left to right: Param Sangani, Jason Stahnke, Jimmy Moore, Emily Falbe, Gabe Wheeler
The Collinsville High School five person team of Jason Stahnke, Jimmy Moore, Param Sangani, Emily Falbe and Gabe Wheeler competed in the international StellarXplorers IV competition this year.
The competition involves determining orbits of satellites, designing satellites and choosing correct launch vehicles. StellarXplorers is a STEM outreach program of the Air Force Association.
There were 180 teams that competed from all over the world – only 57 of those teams were from public schools. After the fourth round, the CHS team finished in 16th place.
“It is an extremely difficult competition. Unfortunately, only the top 10 get to compete at the Air Force Academy in Colorado for the finals,” said Science Department Chair and Physics Instructor Tom Withee, “but our team finished strong having the 6th highest score for the fourth round.”
“This was only the 4th year the competition was held and the 2nd year CHS has participated,” added Withee. “These kids worked really hard and performed exceptionally.”
Jimmy Moore will be a senior at CHS next year. Param Sangani is planning to attend St. Louis University and major in Biology/Pre-Med; Gabe Wheeler is planning to attend Cedarville University in Ohio and study Computer Science, Emily Falbe is planning to attend Missouri State University and major in Biology/Pre-Med; Jason Stahnke is planning to attend Wichita State University to major in Aerospace/Aeronautical Engineering.