Louisiana Teacher Does Rocket Catcher Challenge with More than 500 Students!

This STEM teacher did the 2025 Engineering Challenge with students in 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grade—and won big!

An Engineering Challenge for All Ages

The annual Science Buddies Engineering Challenge is open to all students in grades K-12. With a goal of encouraging students to "try" engineering, the challenge emphasizes simple materials and presents an activity that can be solved by even the youngest students.

Sparking Early Interest in Engineering

Raina Hay is a second-year STEAM teacher at DeRidder Elementary in DeRidder, LA. She meets with 2nd-, 3rd-, and 4th-grade classes once a week in the STEAM Lab. Students have a chance to visit with the lab's bearded dragon and Tokay geckos, part of science-based classroom "habitats," and explore engineering design with a range of activities, including roller coasters, bridges, catapults, and balloon-powered cars.

Having discovered the Engineering Challenge last year, but too late for students to enter the 2024 Rubber Band Car Challenge, Raina was ready when the 2025 challenge was announced.

After introducing the Rocket Catcher Challenge, her students had questions. Raina reached out to Science Buddies to find out if the rocket-catching devices could be decorated. For some of her younger students, being able to personalize their solutions was an important part of the project! Able to reassure her students that, yes, they could customize their rockets and devices with crayons and markers, Raina did the 2025 Rocket Catcher Challenge with more than 500 students.

Raina's students did a fantastic job working on their challenge entries, and one of the 60 teams she entered was drawn as one of the ten randomly-chosen winners, which earned the school $1,000 (USD).

We talked with Raina about the Engineering Challenge and hands-on STEM at DeRidder Elementary.

Tell us about STEM education at your school.

"Teaching STEAM is fairly new to me, considering this is my second year. I try my best to align lessons to the regular curriculum for each grade level and present a wide variety of lessons so that I can hopefully pique the interest of every student at some point. Overall, I try to encourage problem-solving skills, collaboration, and a connection to real-world matters."

What made the Engineering Challenge a good choice for you and your students?

"The Engineering Challenge was a good choice because it utilized easily obtainable materials, kept the students engaged, and showed them the importance of collaboration, teamwork, and never giving up."

This challenge uses simple materials. Was this important for you in deciding to do the challenge?

"Yes, the use of simple materials was a very important factor, especially considering about 500 students were involved. Anything that can be created with paper and tape is a win!"

The challenge is designed to work well for students at the elementary school level, all the way through high school. Did you have any hesitation about doing the challenge with younger students?

"At first, I was concerned about my second-grade classes having difficulty completing the challenge. They surprised me by working so hard to complete the challenge. Some of them had some wonderful ideas."

Above: Some of Raina's students with their Rocket Catcher Challenge entries.

As an educator, what did you most enjoy about the challenge?

"I loved seeing the students work together to come up with a solution when their creations didn't quite work. The laughter and squeals of excitement when everything did work were heartwarming."

Do you think you will do the Engineering Challenge again next year?

"I wholeheartedly believe we will participate in the Engineering Challenge each year I am teaching STEAM Lab."

Do you use other resources from Science Buddies?

"I am always going through the lessons to find the perfect one. I also use the Science Careers menu to show students an overview of different careers. Even though they are only 2nd, 3rd, or 4th graders, it is not too early to get them excited and thinking about possible future careers."

What has been the value of Science Buddies for you and your students this year?

"Science Buddies has been an extremely valuable resource. I know I can count on you to have a variety of interesting learning experiences from which my students can benefit and that correlate to our regular curriculum. Having access not only to the lesson plans but also links to a variety of videos has been handy in getting and keeping my students interested. The biggest win for me personally is that they are free!"

Note: Raina says she is lucky to have a good storage system with enough space for each class. Even so, keeping separate rocket catcher devices being made by five hundred students organized can be a challenge! During the early stages of building, Raina had students store their projects on the cabinet shelves in bags labeled with their group color. "When their rocket catchers would no longer fit onto the cabinet shelves, I placed them on the space above and on the counter below the cabinet. Each group had their teacher and color group on the bottom of their cardboard base. There was organized chaos in the lab for a while."

Thank you to Raina for sharing this story with Science Buddies. If you have a story about how Science Buddies makes a difference in your classroom or program, reach out to us at [email protected].