This article features the team of students from Madison (Wisconsin) West High School who took first place in the Seventh Annual Team America Rocketry Challenge (TARC), earning the title of national champion. The four-member team--Jacqui German, Tenzin Sonam, John Schoech, and Ben Winokur--spent several months perfecting their design after the national kickoff of the competition last September. They competed against the 100 top U.S. teams, drawn from 45 states and the District of Columbia. The Team America Rocketry Challenge, begun in 2003 to celebrate the centennial of powered flight and sponsored by the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) and the National Association of Rocketry (NAR), is intended to encourage students to consider careers in aerospace. For the 2009 challenge, student teams were asked to design, build, and launch a model rocket to an altitude of 750 feet with a flight time of 45 seconds and a raw-egg payload situated horizontally to mimic the position of an astronaut. The egg had to return to earth unbroken in order for the launch to qualify. The Madison West High School team shares a prize pool of more than $60,000 with other top finishers. Also, the Lockheed Martin Corporation provides $5,000 scholarships to each of the top three teams, and the teams receive an invitation from NASA to participate in its Student Launch Initiative, an advanced rocketry program.