Montana Tech AISES chapter celebrates First Nations Launch Competition experiences, seeks new advisor, plans for club growth

The Montana Tech chapter of the American Indian Science and Engineering Society (AISES) is celebrating a year of groundbreaking successes, and club members are on the search for new members, as well as increased faculty and staff involvement to build community that will bring more indigenous culture to the forefront of campus through shared experiences.

A huge accomplishment this year was participating in the First Nations Launch High-Power Rocket Competition in in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The team studied and assembled a Yank IRIS 4” rocket, manufactured by Loc Precision. Their journey included a test launch in Twin Bridges prior to the competition which allowed team members to assemble Caliber ISP rockets and get certified in Level 1 Rocketry under the Tripoli Rocketry Association.

“Through countless evenings and weekends, we spent our time crafting rockets and making progress in the Strengths Lab in the Natural Resource Research Center. We were studying avionics and electronics and calculating aerodynamics,” Beplate said. “We were very fortunate to be given the opportunity of a lifetime.”

In Wisconsin, the team embraced indigenous cultures from around the United States.

“I didn’t anticipate the amount of culture we were presented there, but we were so proud that we were able to experience it,” Beplate said. “Before we lift off to the stars, we must stay grounded and remember the earth that we came from and the culture we represent. We were blessed by a chief, who also gave us a gift of tobacco. In native culture, tobacco is seen as sacred. You are supposed to take it as a blessing. Some of our club members who aren’t native got to experience that for the first time. Seeing our club members learn so much about those cultural differences was cool. It made me so happy.”

The competition was also a hotbed of aeronautics networking opportunities. Students encountered professionals from organizations including NASA, Space Force, Raytheon, Blue Origin, Lockheed Martin and more. Seasoned rocketry professionals also helped the Montana Tech AISES team fix some problems prior to launch, including an altimeter that was not working correctly, and a GPS that was not connecting properly.

Though the rocket did not launch as planned, the experience was worth it.

“Everything that was an issue was fixed,” Beplate said. “I count that as a win.”

The group plans to participate in the First Nations Launch Moon Challenge next year. This competition requires students to design, test, and fabricate a rocket that will air deploy a lander with a fabricated retractable payload chassis at apogee. The team will need a new faculty sponsor after Scott Coguill retires at the end of the academic year.

AISES is also looking for new team members who want to participate in the First Nations Launch, or other numerous activities on campus.

“We’ve really strengthened our relationship with the Butte Native Wellness Center, and they’ve helped us out tremendously. They deliver meal kits to the local community. Our club members appreciate that and we want help support them,” Beplate said. “We also secured a partnership with Western Native Voices, and just submitted a final design to the Montana Tech Campus Store, for the first-ever native-themed t-shirt to sold on campus.”

The group held an Indigenous Taco Night where they cooked fry bread together, and held a Pint Night at Butte Brewery and Pizza.

“I love this University and so do all of our club members, and we really want to be supported as much as we support Montana Tech,” Beplate said. “We want to grow community. I want a place for people to go no matter what if they don’t have a place.”

AISES members do not need to be Native American to participate in the club, and leadership would like to recruit as many prospective high school students and enrolled Montana Tech and Highlands College students as possible.

“Many people are too scared to come,” Beplate said. “Many people believe that if you are smaller percentage Native, and they don’t have a tribal card, that you are unwelcome. But you have Native blood and you are willing to learn something new. What matters is returning to your roots and bringing back everything you’ve learned to keep yourself grounded. Many people in our club are not native, and it’s great to watch them learn so much about indigenous cultures.”

To learn more about joining AISES, email aises@mtech.edu.