Three W.D. Cuts students may have a career in paper shipbuilding after taking silver in a regional boat race.
Two Grade 7 teams from W.D. Cuts took part in the annual Skills Canada Southern Alberta Cardboard Boat Race last Monday at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology’s main campus in Edmonton.
Some 200 students took part in the event, which was part of Skilled Trades and Technology Week in Canada.
Cuts shipwrights Christopher Biddle, Matthew Tuck, Andrew Part and Kyle Fehr won silver in the junior high category.
Teams had to build a boat out of tape and cardboard in an hour and a half that could survive both a weight and a speed challenge, Biddle said.
“We tried to make (the boat) the most streamlined we could and quite wide so it would be quite buoyant,” Biddle said.
That meant a sharp tip for the front, a wide and thickened base, high sides and plenty of tape for the seven-by-three-foot boat. They also added their names and school logo to it.
Being the lightest person on the team, it was Biddle’s job to sail the ship during the speed race, where teams had to cross 25 metres of water without sinking. He says he paddled with both arms simultaneously for top speed, and placed third or fourth.
Then it was time for the weight challenge, where the boats had to support three students for at least a minute without sinking.
“We didn’t think the boat would last that long,” Biddle said, as it was pretty flimsy after the speed race. One team member had to push against two bits at the front to prevent a hull breach.
But Biddle said the boat held without any leaks, which was enough to net them the silver medal plus a Cineplex gift certificate.
Biddle said the team practised beforehand with their boat’s design by building a six-inch scale model of it in the classroom, and that helped a lot in the contest.
This contest gives students a chance to do real hands-on applied science problem solving, says team coach Deborah Rivet. Although Cuts had participated in the contest before, this was the first time it had sailed away with a medal.
The boat itself was intentionally capsized and dumped in the “boat graveyard” for recycling afterwards, Biddle said.
St. Albert students are pumped up and ready to raise change for the Third World this week after an inspirational time at the annual We Day festival.
Students from across the St. Albert and Sturgeon County region rallied at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary last Monday for the 2014 We Day Alberta event. The free event is organized by the charity Free the Children.
About 16,000 students, educators and guests from across the province were there to hear inspirational speeches from people such as paraplegic mountain-climber Spencer West and astronaut Dave Williams. The event taught the students how their actions could help those less fortunate.
Students earn spots at the event through community service and volunteer work, said St. Albert Catholic High Grade 12 student Megan Stefner, who was at the event.
It’s a super-motivational day that encourages students to take on local and international causes, she said.
“It was incredible. Everyone is so inspired and so excited to be there.”
You had students from different schools and age groups all dancing together as friends, said Sarah Peacock, a Grade 12 student from Paul Kane who was also at the event.
“Everyone was brought together by the cause.”
We Day encourages attendees to commit to at least one local and one international charitable project after the event.
Stefner said she and her classmates plan to raise funds to buy goats for people in developing nations for their We Day project. Goats can provide a family with food, trade goods and a steady source of income, she noted.
“We don’t realize that something as simple as one goat can help change a whole family’s life.”
Paul Kane plans to raise $10,000 to build a maternity clinic in Kenya, Peacock said.
“Some of the poorer women in Africa have to walk up to 32 km to give birth to their children while they are in labour,” she noted. If everyone in Paul Kane donates a dollar per month, the school should have enough funds to build the clinic by the end of the school year.
Peacock said we wouldn’t be where we are today without the help of others, which is why it’s important to help out other people. Donating a tin of food might seem like a small act to us, but it can make a huge difference in someone’s life.
Weday.com has more on the event.
