Last Updated on June 3, 2025 10:50 am
A multidisciplinary team of students from Caldwell Community College and Technical Institute recently earned first place in the 2025 North Carolina Space Grant High-Altitude Ballooning Competition. The team achieved the highest overall score by excelling in all judged areas, including project reports, technical presentations, payload development, flight performance, and recovery.
Students from a variety of CCC&TI’s programs participated in the months-long competition, combining knowledge from electronics, computer science, physics, biology, and other fields to build and launch their own high-altitude balloon. The team successfully launched a custom-built payload that reached an altitude of 87,550 feet, capturing environmental data and near-space imagery.
The participating students and their areas of expertise were: Ralph Anderson (Biology Payload); Ebbon Cook (3D Printing and Modeling); Marina Herrera (Telemetry, Outreach, and Secretary); Thomas Manning (Team Captain, payload and outreach); Elijah Nash (Biology and Payload) Ronald Perez Cardenas (Microcontrollers); Alex Vandivier (Outreach); Lex Phillips (Programming); Catori Wilkie (Outreach); and Cameron Williams (Payload design and layout).
In addition to meeting the competition’s required payload specifications, the team also developed and flew an individual payload designed in-house. Students were responsible for submitting multiple technical reports, delivering mission design presentations, and defending their decisions to a technical advisor throughout the fall and spring semesters.
Following the flight, the team tracked the payload to the upper branches of a tree estimated to be between 75 and 100 feet tall. The team coordinated a safe and successful recovery with the help of a professional arborist, further demonstrating their problem-solving and adaptability skills to follow through on a successful recovery of their balloon.
“Our students worked incredibly hard over several months to plan, build, and fly a complex near-space mission,” said Lucas McGuire, Program Director for Electronics Engineering Technology. “Taking first place is a direct result of their technical skill, teamwork, and persistence.”
CCC&TI has participated in the North Carolina Space Grant High-Altitude Ballooning Competition every year since 2022 and remains committed to providing students with real-world STEM experiences that foster innovation, collaboration, and professional growth.
For more information about the project, CCC&TI programs of study or other information, visit www.cccti.edu or call 828-726-2200 (Caldwell) and 828-297-3811 (Watauga).
