By Editor-in-Chief Allie Pecorin

Senior Ryan Krainz and his teammates, seniors Danny Riley, Mike Stramaglia, and Kevin Long, were confident as they stepped on to the pool deck.

“We’re definitely going to win it,” said Stramaglia, as he picked up his cardboard boat and walked over to the edge of the pool.

Moments later, Krainz threw the boat into the NNHS pool. With Riley’s help, he sat in the boat and paddled two lengths of the pool, successfully capturing the winning title during their 4th period heat of the now annual Research and Design cardboard boat regatta.

The event, which took place during 4th, 5th, and 6th period classes, pits teams of up to four students against each another.  Each team constructs a boat using cardboard as the main element, attempting to race their creation down one length of the pool and back.

“[The regatta] teaches students how to collaborate and work through a challenging problem,” said Research and Design teacher Kevin Farrel.  “It’s real world engineering.”

The boats that were raced showcased a variety of designs. According to senior Kyle Olifirowicz, students in Research and Design classes were given four weeks to research and construct their boats.

“We started with the researching process. We looked at other cardboard boats [to figure out] what was durable and what they needed to float,” Olifirowicz said.

Though Olifirowicz’s team was not quite as successful as others, he still deems the experience worthwhile.

“I’m a little disappointed,” Olifirowicz said.  “But at the same time, you learn from the failures. If we did it again, we’d know how to do it better.”

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