Red Bull, paper airplanes and Austria. Three seemingly unrelated things now have one thing in common: Steven Simon. Simon, a Riverview High School graduate, just finished up his freshman year at Michigan State University with a bang by competing in the Red Bull Paper Wings World Finals in Austria earlier this month. Every three years, Red Bull holds a worldwide competition on college campuses to find the best-of-the-best at throwing paper airplanes. To the surprise of many, including himself, Simon found himself in this select group. On March 21, Simon was told by his resident advisor that Red Bull was holding a paper airplane throwing competition that night in the gymnasium. The competition included three categories: distance, airtime and aerobatics. The winner in each category would bring home some Red Bull and a $50 gift card. Intrigued and without plans for the evening, Simon went online, looked up how to fold a plane for the airtime competition and made his way down to the event. “A couple hours before the event, I looked up how to fold a plane for that event,” Simon said. “You want as much of a surface-to-wing ratio as possible and your plane is basically a giant rectangle with huge wings.” Simon surprised himself at the event with a throw that kept his plane in the air for almost nine seconds. “I liked folding paper airplanes as a kid, but I was never really too good at it,” Simon said. “I was pretty amazed by the time that I got.” The freshman easily won the competition and was happy to leave with some extra spending money and Red Bull. He was about to be a lot happier. “One day, I was sitting around in my dorm and got a phone call,” Simon said. “Someone calls me and says, ‘You had a pretty nice throw the other day. You’re going to Austria.’” This someone was a representative from Red Bull who informed Simon that his throw of 8.89 seconds was the best in the Midwest and qualified him for the Red Bull Paper Wings World Final at the illustrious Hangar-7 in Salzburg, Austria. On May 2, Simon found himself on a plane to Austria and was awestruck by the sight of Hangar-7. “It was pretty spectacular,” Simon said. “It’s a world-famous hangar that’s a museum with crazy cars and planes. The building is designed in the shape of a plane wing and is made of mostly glass.” The competition began on May 4 and Simon’s event took place the following day. The top 10 in each category advanced to the tournament finals. Facing many experienced throwers, Simon placed 50th in a stacked field of seasoned veterans and did not advance to the finals. “There was one competitor that did not let his planes out of his sight,” Simon said. “I mean, he carried it with him everywhere, including the bathroom. Others were in their forties and enrolled in classes just to be considered college students for the competition.” The competition only lasted two days, but Red Bull offered the participants a chance to stay and take in the sights. Instead of opting to leave right after the competition, Simon was allowed to stay and sightsee over the next week in Austria and Germany. “We took this opportunity to stay until the 11th and it was amazing,” Simon said. “My favorite part was traveling around Munich because it’s so full of history with amazing buildings and sights.” What started as a way to kill time on a Wednesday night turned into the realization of an unknown talent and the experience of a lifetime. An experience Simon says he plans to have again. “I definitely plan on keeping it going,” Simon said. “The competition happens every three years, so I’ll have an opportunity my senior year.” After seeing how seriously this event is taken by his opponents, Simon has developed new techniques and a training regime he will utilize over the next three years. “First of all, if you put your paper in the freezer, it allows the plane to fly higher and longer,” Simon said. “For training, I plan on going to the gym, picking up the heaviest weight I can and throwing it.” While Simon suggests that all college students take advantage of this unique competition when it comes back around, he also offers a friendly warning. “I definitely suggest trying this out if Red Bull comes to a campus, just not in three years,” Simon said. “Wait until I’m done, because in three years, it’s mine.”