![WaPo Creative Group Feature Image](/images/Posts/TRELRocketeers.jpg)

## This. Is. Awesome.

Great news! The Washington Post Creative Group did a piece over the summer on TREL. In it, they highlight our director of test operations, Jason Deng (neat!), in addition to all of the other incredible aspects of TREL (our synopsis, engine, our first hot-fire test, etc.) The story itself is incredibly interactive with all sorts of cool visual effects and videos, so we recommend you check it out yourself! 

Here’s the [link](https://www.washingtonpost.com/creativegroup/ni/the-rocketeers/)!


Washington Post Creative Group's Newest Piece, "The Rocketeers", Spotlights TREL


![Jay_Hartzell](/images/Jay_Hartzell.jpg)

On Sept. 24, UT President Jay Hartzell delivered his inaugural speech, promising to both cultivate the diversity of the student body as well as move UT up the ranks in academics. In addition to that, he also mentioned TREL when discussing how UT could have a “greater impact by pulling together great people in this special place and pursuing the right things.” In the short snippet of the speech, he included how staff such as Sarah Kitten (an academic advisor here at UT) was able to help create this remarkable organization by connecting former TREL CEO and director of operations Shawn Lee to the lab in the first place.

## Our Snippet

To read the entire part of the speech discussing TREL, you can see it below:

“Let me give you an example. Shawn Lee graduated in May from the Cockrell School. As a freshman, he connected with the Texas Rocket Engineering Lab, or TREL for short. They’re a student group developing the first collegiate liquid bipropellant rocket to reach the Kármán line — the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space. That’s a pretty awesome project, right? About like what we did when we were in college?

It was Shawn’s academic adviser, Sarah Kitten, who connected him to the lab. A faculty member and TREL’s director at the time, Dr. Leon Vanstone, soon became Shawn’s mentor. These experiences didn’t just provide Shawn with knowledge. They taught him how to build cool teams as well as cool stuff. Shawn went on to mentor other students and eventually served as TREL’s CEO and director of operations. He interned at Blue Origin, a rocket and spacecraft company with the mission of building a road to space. Shawn now works for them full time. With people and stories like these, we’ve joked that we may need to change our tagline to ‘What starts here changes the universe.’”

### If you want to see the entire speech...

The entire speech can be found [here](https://president.utexas.edu/messages-speeches-2021/2021-presidential-inauguration-and-state-university-address). 


TREL Featured in UT President Jay Hartzell’s Inauguration Speech


Just last Wednesday, Oct. 6, TREL delivered its first public presentation of the year at Austin Startup Week. Hosted by Amazon Web Services, high-profile business leaders and corporations from around the world tuned in live to see what TREL had to say about being one of the most advanced collegiate rocket organizations in the country.

## Presentation Time!
![Lauren Rodriguez, Adam Norwitz, and Gregory Gaasche presenting](/images/Posts/TRELAWSPresenting.jpg)

Chief engineer Lauren Rodriguez, who was given the task to present the Halcyon rocket to the audience (along with corporate development leads Adam Norwitz and Greg Gaasche), explained that the most difficult part of the presentation was “trying to figure out what level of detail [she] needed to provide to get [her] point across.” A task she accomplished by considering who her audience exactly was throughout the entirety of the presentation and trying to communicate to them in an effective way.

“I tried to emphasize Halcyon’s projects and their complexity the most -- we learn so much from our challenges, so talking about the vehicle really drives home what an incredible opportunity being a part of TREL is,” Rodriguez said.

## Happy Hour

After the presentation, TREL was given the opportunity to attend Austin Startup Week’s “Happy Hour”. An event that made it possible for TREL to connect with a myriad of companies, business leaders, and those wanting to innovate in the space industry.

“Happy Hour was another incredible opportunity for TREL. We were finally able to meet our friends at AWS in person, as well as many other companies making an impact in the space industry,” Norwitz said. “TREL hopes to partner with more space companies from Texas to help us in inspiring the next generation of aerospace pioneers.”

Ultimately, the event for TREL proved to be a success. And with it getting its name out as an organization that both builds complex rockets and educates the next generation about aerospace, TREL hopes to continue its legacy for years to come.

“Kudos to @Gregory Gaasche, @Adam Norwitz, and @Lauren Rodriguez for a fantastic presentation to AWS Wednesday,” director Sandy Barker said while congratulating the trio on Slack. “I've gotten fabulous feedback from attendees, volunteers to come speak with us, and an invitation for TREL AWS to join their space forum. This will provide opportunities for years to come. Please join me in congratulating them!”


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August 24, 2021

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