Students from war-torn countries find safe haven in the US, compete in a national rocketry competition
Fox News
A team of middle school students competing in the American Rocketry Challenge came to the U.S. with their families from Ethiopia, Afghanistan, Turkey and other countries.
A total of 922 teams from all over the country applied, but only the top 100 teams were chosen to travel to Virginia to compete. The objective for each team was to build a rocket and launch it as high as possible while carrying an egg and landing without the egg breaking. Liz Friden is a Pentagon producer based in Washington, D.C.
One team from Francis Hammond Middle School in Alexandria, Virginia, had already overcome the odds before stepping onto the field to launch their rocket. The group of students was not born in the United States. Their families fled their homes in Afghanistan, Azerbaijan, Ethiopia, Turkey and Ukraine. Their teachers recruited them to join the school’s rocketry club in part to help them learn English and adjust to life in America.