Rover
Parish is home to Texas’ only high school NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge (HERC) team!
The NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge is hosted by NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, AL and held annually at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center, high school and college teams from around the country compete to design and build a pedal powered rover that can successfully navigate a half-mile obstacle course design to simulate Martian and Lunar terrain.
Each year the team designs, fabricates and builds the rover from scratch. The team’s work is made possible by advanced design and fabrication equipment in the Walton Alford Welding Shed and Wheeler Family Woodshop housed in the Design Den.
Awards
1st Place Overall for High School Division - 2021 and 2022
2022
- 1st Place Overall - High School Division
- Project Review Award - High School Division
- Videography Award - High School Division
2021
- 1st Place Overall - High School Division
- Project Review Award - High School Division
- Social Media Award - High School Division
2020
- Best Report Award - High School Division
2019
- Neil Armstrong Best Design Award - High School Division
- Team Spirit Award
- Best Report Award - High School Division
2018
- Neil Armstrong Best Design Award - High School Division
- Best Report Award - High School Division
2017
- Neil Armstrong Best Design Award - High School Division
- Best Report Award - High School Division
2016
- Telemetry Award - High School Division
- Best Report Award - High School Division
2015
- Neil Armstrong Best Design Award - High School Division
- Most Improved Team - High School Division
2014
- Frank Joe Sexton Memorial Pit Crew Award
Rover on Display at Perot Museum
The award winning Parish Rover was on display at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in Dallas from September 2018 to August 2019. The 2017 Rover placed 5th in the world in the NASA Human Exploration Rover Challenge.
It was part of an exhibit in the Texas Instruments Engineering and Innovation Hall with hopes that the story of the Parish Rover would inspire others to explore STEM and make new discoveries on their own.
Rover Team visits TEDx SMU
Former Parish NASA Rover Team members Sophie Alford, Katie Wall, Whitney Wheeler, and Madalyn White spoke about the challenging journey the team had taken.
The secrets to success the team found with the rover are the same needed for not just surviving but thriving in middle and high school.