The USS Ridgecrest took its maiden voyage this month in the pool at Rinehart Fitness Center on Fort Sill.
The good news is that it didn’t sink. The bad news is that it didn’t win the fourth annual Cardboard Cup Race, but that was OK with its designers, who just didn’t want the USS Ridgecrest to end up on the bottom of the pool.
The USS Ridgecrest was one of 22 boats, built with only cardboard and duct tape, entered in the annual competition sponsored by Lawton Public Schools. The competition is held for elementary, middle and high school students to test engineering principles they have learned in Makerspace or pre-engineering classes.
Even though the Ridgecrest team won its heat, they didn’t have one of the top three fastest times needed to place in the competition. But the two occupants of the boat were just glad they made it from one end of the pool to the other.
“It was scary. It kept trying to flip over,” Dayton Weaselboy, one of the crewmembers, said after the race.
“He leaned over one way and I had to lean the other. We thought we were going to sink,” said Zamire Rooks, the other crewmember in the boat.
Their captain, Laweren Young, looked on the bright side after their heat.
“We didn’t sink,” Young said excitedly. “We did an awesome job.”
Students have three hours to turn a few pieces of cardboard and three rolls of duct tape (yellow this year to match the superheroes theme) into a boat carrying at least one person the length of the 100-meter pool. The boat with the fastest time wins.
Students gathered in the Rinehart gym to actually construct their boats. Some students had already created models and simply had to build a version big enough to hold their crew.
Sometimes simple things have a way of not being quite so simple, as one of the teams from Freedom Elementary School learned. The team was finished with its boat when they found out the walls were not tall enough, according to Makerspace teacher Brooke Rooney. It was a last-minute engineering problem students solved by cutting more cardboard pieces and taping them onto the sides.
The boat designs were as varied as there were numbers of teams. Some opted for a boxy design, others for a sleek look, some could hold two people while others were built for one person.
Makenzie Brown, of Whittier Elementary School, said her team decided to make a point on the front of their boat.
“On most ships I see, the point on the boat helps it go straight,” Brown said.
“The point makes it stronger,” Heather Pettit said.
“If it’s strong, she should last longer in the water,” Brown said.
Then there was the debate about paddles. Students had different philosophies about how best to generate enough power to move their boat through the water in the 3-minute time allotted.
Pettit was sitting in her team’s boat, built just big enough for her, on the gym floor practicing with her paddles.
“I’m pretty sure I’ve already decided to be in the boat,” Pettit said.
Brown explained why the team was using paddles instead of their hands.
“If paddles get super filled with water, they will fall apart, so we put tape on them to keep that from happening,” Brown said.
“I don’t think hands will be faster because your hands will get tired,” Pettit said.
The Freedom Superheroes team also opted for making paddles, but tiredness was not a factor.
“Paddles will catch a lot more water. Your hand has more holes and the water can slide out there,” Nathan Barber said.
“The paddles will push the water back. I’m making this paddle waterproof,” fellow teammate Rose Brown said as she applied duct tape to two pieces of cardboard.
Young, from the Ridgecrest team, thought she had hit upon the perfect way to paddle.
“I told them this, to cup their hands and they will move faster,” Young said. “We tested it out and it worked.” The Ridgecrest team employed both methods — Weaselboy used paddles and Rooks used his hands.
Each person on the Ridgecrest team had specific duties, and their positions were noted on the back of their shirts.
Young said her team designated her captain because of her leadership skills.
“I’m captain because I’m firm,” she said. “When I am in charge, we get all of the work done. I made the design and they loved it. They said I should be captain. I keep them in line. We have a lot of fun and we know how to win this competition.”
Weaselboy said it was his job as bosun to help with the measurements.
“If I see bubbles, I put tape over it and smooth it out,” he said.
Rooks and Tre’Shaun Lusby were both deckhands. Lusby said his job was to tape it all together.
“I do the measurements and make sure everything is nicely in place,” Lusby said.
Weaselboy and Rooks were tapped to be in the boat together. They were one of the few teams that opted to have two people in the boat instead of just one.
“I don’t like water, it freaks me out,” Young explained as to why she, as captain, was going to keep her feet out of the pool.
Doris Biegler, STEM coordinator for LPS, said the race is important for several reasons.
“It gets the kids ready for the real world,” she said. She explained that while employers can teach their employees the skills they need to do the job, teamwork is different.
“The No. 1 thing I hope they learn is teamwork and working together,” Biegler said. “Learning how to work as a team is a lot harder than learning a skill.”
The competition also helps students put into practice the engineering skills they have learned in Makerspace and pre-engineering classes.
“It introduces them to the engineering design process and teaches them to think outside the box,” she said. “It teaches them to be problem solvers.”
Plus, it’s fun.
“It’s really fun and kids are competitive,” Biegler said. “They get to see what other kids are doing, they get to mingle and engage. I hope they learn something about socializing, how to be teammates and about engineering.”
WINNERS:
Freedom, first place
Pioneer Park, second place
Sullivan Village, third place