Student Biographies

Katie Tai:
Student Manager & Payload Experiment Team Member

Katie has been interested in rocketry, aerospace, and science for a very long time. She has been involved in Science competitions since 6th grade, including science UIL, where she has won first place in every competition. She participated in a SPACE TEAMS robotics camp where her team got 2nd place. In seventh grade, she was in Science Olympiad and her team placed 4th. Last year, she was elected president of the Krueger NJHS. She also took the SAT in 7th grade and scored in the top 10th percentile against all the High School students who also took the test. Katie plays violin, piano, and percussion, and any time left over when she finishes practice is spent either writing or building model rockets with her younger brother.

Kirsten Casteel:
Student - Safety & Payload Experiment Team Member

KC has been in Science UIL and Science Olympiad since 6th grade and has been very successful. Some of her hobbies include dance, golf, tennis and rock collecting. Science, rocketry and art are her passions though. She has been in Science UIL and Science Olympiad since 6th grade and has been very successful. She has placed many times in UIL and Ali and her took second in mystery architecture. She is a member of the National Jr. Honor Society and has already racked up over 20 hours. She has maintained an A, B average in all her classes. She is very excited to be a part of SLI and she is willing to work her hardest to meet our goals and do well in this competition.

Alison (Ali) Klemm:
Student - Web Design & Payload Experiment Team Member

Ali has been interested in rockets and Aerospace for some time now. She really likes working with computers and technology. Since sixth grade, she has participated in Science UIL and Science Olympiad with Mrs. Thomas. In Science UIL she has placed several times against all the other people in the district. In Science Olympiad she got second place in the designing and building competition. She is also in National Junior Honor Society and has already achieved around 25 volunteer service hours. She is really excited to be able to participate in the SLI competition with all her friends and her Mentors.

Lara Janecka:
Student - Payload Experiment Team Member

Lara has been to SPACE TEAMS robotics camp, where she got 2nd. She has been to science Olympiad 2 years in a row. Lara built a lot of rockets for school projects. She went to an engineering camp in Austin, which gave her the dream to be an Aerospace engineer. She love rockets and want to know everything about space.

Zahid Husain:
Student - Rocket Design & Construction Team Member

Zahid likes to make and do things with rockets, science, robotics, and computers. This is his third year in the K-SAT program. Besides school, he has also been entered in other clubs like Botball and Team America. He has also been in NJHS (National Junior Honor Society).

Travis Lamb:
Student - Rocket Design & Construction Team Member

Travis originally got into rocketry when he saw images of the Colombia disaster. He wanted to know what goes on with the inner workings of a rocket and ultimately, what went wrong. When KSAT came recruiting to his elementary school, he knew that it was right up his alley. In eighth grade, he led a team to get 17th place at the Team America Rocketry Challenge. He later went on to the Engineering and Technologies Academy magnet program.

John Yadrick:
Student - Rocket Design & Construction Team Member

John Yadrick is currently in ninth grade and is fourteen years old. He was born and raised in San Antonio Texas. In seventh grade he went to Krueger middle schools magnet program, Krueger School of Applied Technology. In eighth grade his class did a project where the goal was to send a rocket up 850 feet for 45 seconds. His team went to the nationals after they heard that their score was high enough. There his team got 17th place in the competition, and second among middle schools. He was National Junior Honor Society, and goes to Roosevelt High Schools magnet program, DATA, or Design and Technology Academy.