WSU Rocket Club elevates student experience, says young alum

By Lily Parker ’23/25

With its close industry connections to such aerospace engineering leaders as Textron Aviation, Spirit AeroSystems and Boeing, Wichita State was the go-to choice for Caleb Perkins ’25 during his college search.

Perkins, a College of Engineering graduate, has had a passion for aerospace technologies since childhood. So, when it came time for him to choose a college after graduating high school, he knew there was no substitute for WSU’s premier engineering education and innovative applied learning approach. “There’s just nothing else like it,” he says.

Once on campus, he learned about the various ways to get involved and take his education beyond the classroom, and he gladly seized as many opportunities as his schedule allowed. “My second day of my freshman year, I started working at NIAR,” he says. “Then, the second day of my junior year, I started working as an intern at Textron.” He also joined the Wichita State Rocket Club, serving as the group’s president his senior year.

This summer, the rocket club had the chance to compete at the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association’s International Rocket Engineering Competition (IREC) in Midland, Texas. Drawing attendees from around the world, this annual competition poses the challenge of reaching 10,000 feet – no more, no less – with a rocket designed, prototyped and tested by students.

Fortunately for the Wichita State team, they could count on a bit of guidance from the university’s industry partners, namely one Steven Klausmeyer ’86/90/02, who received his doctorate in aerospace engineering from WSU and currently serves as principal engineer at Cessna Aircraft Company. “Our mentor, Dr. Steven Klausmeyer, was an enormous help,” says Perkins. “He was always asking questions about the design, lending insight on the fine details, like what screws we should use, and just generally ensuring our design was safe and sturdy.”

For the recent grad, Klausmeyer was a familiar face. Growing up in Mulvane, Kansas, Perkins built rockets with his dad and competed in monthly 4-H rocketry competitions. There, he met Klausmeyer, who served as their group’s leader.

With insights from more than two decades at Cessna, Klausmeyer assisted the Wichita State team in designing a rocket capable of producing livestream footage during its launch. Reaching a maximum altitude of 10,512 feet, their design took first place in the livestream category and 45th overall out of 159 teams from around the world. “It was so exciting to have the chance to represent our school at IREC,” Perkins says. “We knew we were doing something right when the other schools stopped asking what our mascot was and started asking more about the design and functions of our rocket.”

Perkins says he has his time at Wichita State to thank for helping him land his current role as flight engineer at Textron Aviation, where he previously worked as an intern for two years. “My hands-on experiences in the rocket club and my internships showed me I was going in the right direction and affirmed that, yes, this is what I want to do professionally,” he says. “Then, after graduation, these opportunities helped me stand out in the job hunt because they showed that I already had the experience and capability to take on new challenges.”

As for the challenges that lay ahead for the alum, he’s confident his education at Wichita State has well prepared him to rise to the occasion.