Some boatbuilders rose to the occasion, others ended up all wet
The stakes were high and the supplies limited during Highland Park High School’s annual Boat Regatta.
Physics students who correctly applied the principles of fluid mechanics kept their cardboard and duct tape boats above water on May 1. Those whose crafts couldn’t stay afloat while they paddled one lap and back in HP’s natatorium were sunk, literally.
The boats didn’t last long. Students hauled the wet cardboard to a dumpster and swim team members cleaned up debris left in the pool. But physics teacher Tiffany Syfert said that the knowledge students gained through the project would be more enduring.
“There’s just something about joy and fun in learning that is critical for students to really get something out of the material,” she said. “This is something they’ll actually retain and remember, versus just studying for that test.”
Students received a grade based in part on whether their boat could float for 10 seconds after boarding (not all the crafts were seaworthy,) and how far they were able to paddle.
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Rubber duckies were given for outstanding engineering, ingenuity, and performance, as well as for most team spirit and best theme. There was also a “Titanic Award” for going down in style.
But this race still had rules. There were limits on the percentage of the boat that could be covered by tape, the craft’s length and width, and the number of team members who could set sail. Boat decorations were minimal to prevent damage to the pool pump. Surfboards and kickboards were not allowed, and students couldn’t disembark and hold their boats overhead while they swam across.
“Once you are wet from water, you’re out,” Syfert said.
Ava Engstrom and Madeline Dulin paddled regally across the pool dressed as Anna and Elsa in a Frozen-themed boat decorated with snowflakes. They attributed their team’s success to calculations, the decision to seal the bottom of the boat with duct tape, and large, glove-like paddles.
Dressed as bright yellow bananas, Brigitte Brown, Caroline Scott, and Ashton Pham-Davis speedily traversed two lengths of the pool in their banana boat, which mimicked the fruit’s distinctive shape and yellow stem.
“We learned how to connect all of the math that we’ve learned throughout high school with our physics concepts such as buoyancy, and we had a successful boat,” Brown said.
But Maddie Robertson had a rockier ride while reenacting George Washington’s risky crossing of the Delaware River.
She made it two-thirds of the way across the pool before her team’s boat started filling with water and she lost a paddle. Robertson was sitting on an elevated platform made of cardboard, which she thought helped her get farther, but wasn’t enough to keep her dry.
It was also rough seas for another group reenacting Washington’s celebrated crossing. Cole Onofrietti and Brandon Lilly, who dressed as Washington and a “humble disciple,” sank before completing two laps of the pool despite paddling furiously.
“Knowing good old George, he would probably have made it across,” Lilly said.
Charlotte Pulliam and Parker Herzog also went down in their craft, but said that they stayed afloat longer than expected, had fun, and learned from their efforts.
“Physics is hard. Very hard,” they said. “But anything is possible in physics.”
