Team USA TARC Coach Celebrates the 'Joy of Failure'

Susan Vogel calls it the "Joy of Failure," the lessons her team learns from their mistakes.

As Rockwall-Heath High School advisor of Heath Side Boys Rocketry, Vogel believes failure often translates to success. The team's success reached a new height in May when the four-member squad took first place at the Team America Rocketry Challenge. Their victory earned them a slot at the International Rocketry Challenge Friday, June 24, in Le Bourget, France.

Vogel, a physics teacher at the school, became involved in rocketry because she was interested in learning more about how physics in the classroom applied to rocketry. She says the best part of coaching is watching the team learn through what she calls the "Joy of Failure."

"The boys have learned to systematically solve problems," she said. "They have learned to collect data and study trends in their data and build upon their mistakes."

At the show, Vogel's looking forward to meeting the teams from the United Kingdom and France and learning more about the rocketry programs and science and engineering courses their students study. She's grateful to Raytheon for sponsoring their trip.