Sink or swim: Students learn about about buoyancy at annual Cardboard Boat Race

More than 200 students took part in the 17th annual Cardboard Boat Race.

LETHBRIDGE — Over 200 southern Alberta students tested their nautical know-how Thursday at the 17th annual Cardboard Boat Race held in Lethbridge.

Students designed their boats in the classroom, and then built them — out of cardboard — in the university's running track before testing their buoyancy in the pool.

Students got the day off from school for the event, but organizers believe many skills from the classroom go into constructing the boat designs.

“The cardboard boat race is a great opportunity for kids to just really utilize a lot of workability skills — like science, math, physics,” said Shauna Gruninger, volunteer emcee.

Students competed in two age categories: grades 7-9 and 10-12, and in two different competitions: race and weight challenge.

The race had students competing in heats where some made the cross-pool trek. while others sank. The weight challenge saw three members of the team jump into the boat and try to stay afloat for 60 seconds.

Seth Duelll, a Grade 11 student, said he sees a lot of future value in the annual race event.

“I want to be a civil engineer so that involves construction stuff like that, so if you want to do that, this is a great opportunity to showcase your skills,” he said.

“I have always liked to build things, it's really cool to do it with all your friends. Obviously we all plan to do things and we work very well together with it.”

Winning and losing seemed to be of minor concern for the 50 teams entered in the event.

Tyler