Seventeen seventh- and eighth-grade Edgewood Middle School students split up into six teams and built cardboard boats to participate in the regatta race during Saturday’s Canal Days in Winona Lake.
Some of the teams have three members, but they all know only two members can be in the boat and paddle during the race, which is fine because they have a lot of responsibilities from building the boat, Project Lead The Way teacher Abbi Richcreek said.
The project was open to any Edgewood student who wanted to participate. Medtronic provided $1,000 for duct tape and cardboard sheets were provided by Welch Packaging Group, Elkhart. Richcreek said she also went to Smith Appliance.
She said this is the second year students have made regatta boats for Canal Days. It is a hands-on project, where students implemented the design process, so it goes from designing the boat to building it and then testing it during the race.
At the beginning of the project, students brainstormed ideas of how to build the boat and then they had to build mini models of their boats out of paper to show students what the boat will look like and how it will work. Richcreek said a lot of the boats the students made are close to the mini models.
“So they actually solved some of the problems they were going to have before they went ahead and built the real things,” she said.
Richcreek was one of two teachers that were coaching the students to help them build the boats. The other was science teacher Alexi Demopoulos.

    Edgewood seventh- and eighth-grade students built cardboard boats to participate in Saturday’s regatta race during Canal Days. They were coached by teachers Abbi Richcreek and Alexi Demopoulos. Students are Abby Richard, Nick Bright, Karlos Resendiz, Brodie Briggs, Jacob Warren, Lukas Tio, Ben Corson, Ian Overman, Kendrick Bennett, Allyson Hoffhien, Jocelyn Baldridge, Mya Williamson, Ethan Schwartz, Adrian Geiger, Braedon Zellers, Ethan Paul and Will Colman. Photo by Jackie Gorski, Times-Union
  

Demopoulos said he was involved in the project last year. He got involved with the project by building boats with his brother after his aunt, who worked for Fellowship Missions, suggested they do so. Richcreek then reached out to Demopoulos last year because he had experience building the regatta boats.
A lot of Richcreek’s and Demopoulos’ job is at the front end of the project by letting students know what the rules are for the race and what the design process was. They helped them think through planning and designing the boats, Demopoulos said.
“We want to give kids their freedom of building what they want to build,” he said.
However, Richcreek and Demopouluos did give students suggestions.
Building the boats was done during the first two weeks of school after school. There was an enrichment time this week, so students were able to use that time to work on the boats.
Richcreek wants students to see if their design actually works and help in their decision making so it can help them in other aspects of their lives.
Demopoulos said he wants students to learn there’s a lot of things out there for them to do. Building cardboard boats is kind of a silly concept, but it’s going to help and support a really great organization in Fellowship Missions. And then, hopefully, students learn something from the experience. He also hopes students have a lot of fun. He hopes a couple students win the creative award and win some of their races.
Last year’s results were “very impressive,” Richcreek said. One of the teams won the Creative Design Award and one other team won the fastest boat award.
“So they pretty much cleaned up the youth category at the race last year,” she said.
As far as this year, she hopes the students learn and have fun.
This year is the first time students Jacob Warren and Brodie Biggs are participating in the project. Warren said it was a time to have fun and meet people.
Warren said he hopes the boat holds up and Biggs said he doesn’t care as much about lasting in the race and wants to win the most creative boat award.
Students Abby Richard, Nick Bright and Karlos Resendiz are also experiencing their first year with the project.
Richard said they’re hoping their boat doesn’t sink. There’s duct tape all over the boat with little airpockets that will hopefully help with the floatation.