Sailing the cardboard straits
By Chris Simon

Photo by Chris Simon Goodfellow Public School Grade 8 students Summer Hunt, Jessica Arnott and Brittany Winter sit in a boat they prepared in preparation for the Cardboard Boat Race, which took place in Orillia earlier this week. Along with teammate Clayton McMillan, the students built their boat within two hours during the competition.

Summer Hunt has had cardboard on her mind a lot lately.

The Goodfellow Public School Grade 8 student, along with three of her schoolmates - Jessica Arnott, Brittany Winter and Clayton McMillan - have been designing a cardboard boat, in anticipation of Skills Canada's Cardboard Boat Race, which took place at the Orillia YMCA earlier this week. The Goodfellow students took on eight other teams, competing in a variety of challenges meant to test the durability, practicality and overall look of the floating cardboard water crafts.

"It's a great experience for Grade 8," she said, sitting beside the protocol boat in a Goodfellow classroom last week. "There's math and all that kind of stuff involved in it ... it just sounded like fun."

Although the team has spent hours building a protocol boat, they were asked to build another one from scratch at the competition. The team had two hours to build and decorate their new boat, before being judged.

"They'll be judged on three different criteria," said teacher Anthony Naccarato. "Creativity is one of them, team spirit and cooperation, and racing. They'll also be evaluated on how well they adhere to their plans."

Teammate Jessica Arnott says she's never before competed in an event like the cardboard race.

"I've never done something like this before," he said. "Getting a good design and making sure that it won't sink (is key)."

The students built their cardboard boat from a variety of materials, including two strips of cardboard, a tube of cement glue, a paperclip and a roll of duct tape. Then, the boats - which carried one team member - were raced across a swimming pool at the YMCA. The competition challenges students to use their scientific, mathematical and visual art skills, said Naccarato.

"We thought it would be an interesting and unique way that's a little different than what they could in the classroom," he said. "They get to apply it in a real life situation. They get to apply those skills in a unique way where they're part of a team. They're under pressure and produce good results."

Naccarato is proud of the effort the team showed during the last few weeks.

"We're really proud of our students," he said. "So far, they've done a great job and shown a lot of commitment to the project on their own time."