Summer 2025 Newsletter
*Voyageur Rocket
Our team has reached incredible heights these past months. As the summer comes to an end and our 2025-26 school year begins, here’s another update from us!
Meet The New Board Of Directors
* Our New Leadership
Chief Executive Officer: Anna O’Brien stepped into the role of Chief Executive Officer (CEO) this year. She is majoring in Computer Science with a minor in Biology. Her previous roles on the team consisted of People Lead, Fundraising Lead, and Chief Operations Officer (COO). She is very excited and proud to be this year's CEO. Her goals for this year are not only to have a successful flight and recovery at competition, but also to enhance our members' educational experience through meaningful hands-on activities and leadership development.
Chief Engineer: Josh Dolan stepped into the role of Chief Engineer (CE) this year. He is majoring in Mechanical Engineering. His previous roles on the team consisted of Facilities Development Lead and Airframe Lead. He is very passionate about everything rocketry, and his goal is to build the best rocket this year while setting us up for success in our future endeavors.
Chief Operations Officer: Claire Nentwig took on the role of Chief Operations Officer. She is majoring in Electrical Engineering with a minor in French Studies. Her previous roles on the team consisted of Secretary and Logistics Lead. Her goals this year are to strengthen relationships with other rocketry teams and to make sure that we have a healthy team culture.
Chief Financial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer: Jenna Whiting is once again Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) for the year. Her majors are Marketing & Graphic Design and Management. Her previous roles on the team consisted of CFO, CMO, and Social Media Deputy. Her goal is to leave this team with more than what she was able to bring to them.
Chief Technology Officer: Iris Van Arnem stepped into the role of Chief Technology Officer (CTO). Her major is Computer Science. Her previous roles on the team consisted of Discord Bot Lead and Infrastructure Lead. She has been teaching herself computer science skills since high school and has recently been taking higher-level courses, where she tackles advanced projects such as building her own apps. Her goal is to make our subsystems as easy to use as possible.
Safety Lead: Cameron Larson took on the role of Safety Lead. His majors are Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Engineering, and he is entering his sophomore year of college. His goal is to ensure that everyone enjoys the team as much as he has and is as safe as possible while doing so.
Competition
Getting to Texas
This year we drove as a team down to Midland, Texas to compete in the International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC). In the past, the competition has been held in Las Cruces, New Mexico, so this was a change for not only our team but IREC’s event coordinators as well.
The week started with us packing the trailer on Friday, leaving Minnesota on Saturday, and arriving at the new launch site in Texas on Sunday. On Monday we checked into the competition, did our safety review, and made paper plate awards. Tuesday was a whole day of tabling, connecting with other teams, and judging! That night we assembled the motor. The motor assembly went mostly according to plan, apart from a bit of last-minute sanding for better fitting. The full assembly went swimmingly, and “the motor performed according to plan,” said Cameron Larson, our Safety Lead.
Later that night, there was a dust storm at the launch site, so we had to wait to hear any news about launches. Our dedicated leaders, Anna O’Brien and Rachel Cirillo, stayed up late into the night until IREC posted a list of teams that were allowed to fly on Wednesday while they cleaned up from the storm. We did not make that list, so on Wednesday morning we slept in and got ready for a day of doing non-rocketry-related activities.
Later that afternoon, we got a message from IREC telling us that we would be able to launch our rocket that day, just as we were about to head out the door for our fun day. Our project leads conferred and decided to give our launch a go-ahead. After that, we rushed to put on our desert gear and drive to the launch site.
* 2025 competition
The Launch
Our launch went very well! With an off-the-rail velocity of 89 ft/sec, an apogee of 26,580 ft, a successful live video feed, and both our main and drogue parachutes deploying, it was a great success and team celebration commenced. On Thursday we returned to the launch site and recovered our rocket, something we had not been able to do in 6 years. That Friday, the team was able to have some fun in Texas. Saturday morning we helped clean up the launch site, and that night we attended the awards ceremony. “We didn't win any awards this year, but the experience was far more valuable,” said team member Caleb Holles.
We left Texas on Sunday and arrived back in Minnesota on Monday. Overall, everyone seemed to have a good time. “The team adapted well and pivoted quickly at each new piece of information. We worked together as a team to make sure that everyone was okay and had a good time to the best of our ability, and it was a fun time,” said Iris Van Arnem, our Chief Technology Officer.
“The team camaraderie made the sleep deprivation and workload so much more bearable. I feel I have much stronger connections with many of the team members than before,” said Cameron Larson.
* photo: Jim Wilkerson
Outreach
Duluth Airshow
Our team volunteered at the Duluth Airshow, running a booth selling chicken tenders, French fries, and beverages. They spent all day taking orders as well as cooking and serving food. “I watched my new committee lead thrive in taking over this event and am excited for him this upcoming year!” said Jenna Whiting, our Chief Financial Officer and Chief Marketing Officer.
Overall, it was a great opportunity to see airplanes, reach out to the community as a team, and meet other aerospace-minded people in our community.
* Duluth Airshow Volunteering
Support Bulldog Rocketry
Support Bulldog Rocketry: Help Students Reach New Heights
If you would like to make a financial contribution to our team to help support our members, follow the link below! Every donation helps us continue our mission by allowing more students to gain the valuable experience of traveling to Midland, Texas, where they’ll not only get the opportunity to launch a rocket, but also connect with over 150 international student teams and the industry-leading companies sponsoring the event.
* rocketry team at competition
