When Freshman Murilo Ferreira Lopes founded Rocket Phoenix in February, his goal was to educate students about rocket building. Lopes said rocketry has always been one of his interests at Elon. He sought a place to explore his fascination with rockets.
“I was always super into rocketry and I saw that there was a lack of activity in the campus both in the academic environment and as an organization,” Lopes said. “I decided to take the step to create an organization for students interested in aerospace, just like me.”
Lopes is the president of Rocket Phoenix — an organization that allows students to build, design and launch rockets. He said that he collaborated with his physics professor to jumpstart the program.
“We received support from the physics department,” Lopes said. “My physics teacher has helped us design our rockets. He was just jumping in to help with everything and welcoming the students with open arms. We have been working alongside each other since the beginning.”
Lopes said that it's easy to balance his position with his academic workload because his courses intersect with Rocket Phoenix values. The organization also receives support from the Student Government Association to finance its equipment.
“In my engineering course we were assigned materials to create an object,” Lopes said. “This gave me an opportunity to design our first rocket for the club. My teachers were very understanding of my responsibility as president of Rocket Phoenix.”
Freshman Murilo Ferreira Lopes guides members through the rocket-building process on March 7 in Innovation Hall room 121. Members got an opportunity to complete their rockets for a planned launch date of March 21.
Freshman Jasson Lainez Argueta is the treasurer of Rocket Phoenix. He discovered the organization through Lopes who motivated him to join. Argueta said he took a chance to learn about rocket building with others.
“I was hesitant to join at first since I had no knowledge of rockets,” Argueta said. “When Murilo approached me with this idea, I was convinced it would be a great opportunity for me to learn. I’m willing to put my best foot forward; I just wanted to join and connect with new people on the campus that I wouldn't have connected with otherwise.”
Argueta said that students don’t need any rocket experience to get involved. He encourages students to get out of their comfort zone and explore what Rocket Phoenix has to offer.
“I’m hoping that people get comfortable being uncomfortable,” Argueta said. “I'm very uncomfortable with learning a new subject and especially trying to teach something I don't know about. But I'm comfortable enough understanding that aspect of myself and telling them or being upfront with them about it. I'm just hoping that people are okay with putting themselves out there even when they're afraid.”
Argueta said that rocketry may be complicated, but the connections made through Rocket Phoenix are not. The organization encourages an inclusive environment for students to share their ideas about Rocket building.
“If you are passionate about learning something new or if you are willing to put yourself out there,” Argueta said, “I would say join Rocket Phoenix. We have a pretty good community that embraces your interests.”
The organization plans to launch its rockets March 21. To contact members of Rocket Phoenix, visit their page on PhoenixConnect.