Akron Board of Education members usually spend their time making sure the school district is staying afloat. Tuesday, five of them and two senior staffers made sure they stayed afloat in Firestone High School’s annual cardboard canoe race.
They rocked the boats. No one fell in or sank, but there was some splashing.
Board President Patrick Bravo and members John Otterman and Lisa Mansfield were the first board team of the day to try their luck in the boats made by seniors in Firestone’s engineering program. This year’s race is the first to be held in the school’s newly refurbished natatorium.
“I hope we don’t go down because I won’t have a dry shirt to put on,” Otterman said.
The boats are made from 3-foot-by-3-foot cardboard boxes donated by River Valley Paper Co., one roll of plastic wrap and two rolls of duct tape, said Dan Spak, who teaches engineering at Firestone with Project Lead the Way.
“As a STEM activity, we try to teach the physical principles the students are looking at,” Spak said. “We look at buoyancy, we look at displacement. For the students that are out there now [in the pool], we look at center of gravity. We look at construction practices … how to build, how to row … but more importantly, what we want to do is take those concepts and make them come alive for the students.
“The activity is designed so that instead of just talking about a subject, if you can implement it, if you can experience it, that’s when you learn it.”
Students from seven middle schools and two high schools participated, as well as some administrators, for a total of 42 boats.
The seniors in the program design and run the race, which this year had a SpongeBob SquarePants theme. Not only did participants have to stay afloat as they paddled a star-shaped course, but they also had to fling squeaky toy hamburgers — krabby patties — into a “chum bucket,” a cardboard box at one end of the pool. The winner was the team that completed the course in the fastest time.
Eleventh-graders have to build tinfoil canoes. Yes, tinfoil. But not to worry. They do have cardboard floors, Spak said. Student are given 100 feet of flexible wood framing, the kind that holds in the screen on a wooden screen door, one ball of twine, eight glue sticks, one roll of tinfoil and one roll of duct tape.
While Bravo’s team waited for their turn, Firestone Principal Larry Johnson and history and government teacher Robert Sveda were paddling the course.
“Aw, see, he’s got the rugby player in his boat,” Mansfield said, referring to Johnson and rugby player Sveda.
Johnson lobbed a krabby patty into the chum bucket from the center of the pool. The natatorium erupted into applause.
“It’s all about teamwork,” Johnson said when back on dry land. He wasn’t worried about sinking. “They guaranteed me that I would float.”
The Bravo boat stayed afloat, too, coming in at a time of 2 minutes, 4.32 seconds.
“You kind of hope the kids are feeling good about the school board when they’re building the boat,” Bravo said. “This is the fun part of our job.”
“There was a little trash talk between me and the treasurer,” Mansfield said. “As long as we beat him, I’m happy.”
As if on cue, APS Treasurer Ryan Pendleton turned his thumb down and mouthed, “You’re going down” from across the natatorium.
The second board team was Debbie Walsh and board Vice President Tim Miller with a time of 2 minutes and 14.34 seconds.
“It was a good workout,” Walsh said. “… This is good for the whole system. It’s good to show that we support [the students] and that we have faith in them.”
For the first time there was an APS senior staff boat. Mansfield recruited Pendleton and Carla Sibley, director of community relations.
Looks like there may have been something to that trash talk. Pendleton and Sibley, who looked like they might have had some rowing experience, came in at 1 minute, 49.05 seconds.
“This is fun,” Pendleton said. “It’s great to see the schools all participate. It definitely builds districtwide pride.”
Sibley wasn’t worried, but wasn’t sure of what the outcome would be.
“I figured if I got wet I’d cool off, but I had a very competent partner,” she said.
“You can count on the accountant,” Pendleton quipped.
Firestone senior Kelsea Ray, 18, who has been in the engineering program all four years, was in charge of stacking the boats and coordinating getting them into the water. She helped build the boat Principal Johnson was in.
She likes when the adults get involved because the seniors build their boats.
“If they sink, that’s all on us,” she said. “So it gives us the excuse to build boats one last time. It gives us one last final hurrah, to build a final boat and make sure it’s not going to sink.”
For the first time, River Valley Paper representatives were on hand to see how well their product held up by going out in a boat themselves. Allison McPeak and Janet Zwisler were attired in River Rats T-shirts they had made. Colleague Liz Harris, a 2010 Firestone grad, was in charge of recording their adventure.
“I’m really excited,” Zwisler said. “Everyone we work with is expecting us to fall in.”
McPeak and Zwisler were the last of the adult teams. Sorry, co-workers. They stayed dry.
Monica L. Thomas can be reached at 330-996-3827 or mthomas@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow her on Twitter @MLThomasABJ and www.facebook.com/MLThomasABJ.