Chinook West students tested their engineering skills in the Second Annual Boat Regatta
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Chinook West's Boat Regatta saw boats of different designs. This boat took second place.
The fastest boat in the water for the Second Annual Boat Regatta at Chinook West was the Kai-Yak.
With a little help, lots of cheers from classmates, and a lot of strong paddling this boat made it to the end of the pool.
The Boat Regatta has many lessons and one that showed was grit. Students at Chinook do not give up easily. Even if a boat did not make it to the end, there was work in the process and great effort on the day of the regatta.
NEDERLAND — The task: building a flotation device using only cardboard, duct tape, and plastic cling wrap.
This was the challenge for the students in the physical science class at Chinook West High School in Nederland.
Other requirements for this project included that a student needed to ride in the “boat,” and to be able to paddle across the Gilpin County Community Center pool in their creation. Staying afloat, sinking, or somewhere in between would be the outcome. The goals were to have fun, participate, and learn.
This was the Second Annual Boat Regatta at Chinook, led by science teacher Cameron Kollar.
Kollar said that the designers were more risky this year. She said that the designs were “out of the box.”
Kollar commented that the students learned skills and showed mastery in engineering (structural integrity and buoyancy), design (material science), teamwork, and grit.
The students first made model boats, adding different weights and putting them in water to test. Then they moved to creating the boats that would be used in the regatta.
All the students attending Chinook came to the Gilpin Community Center pool to see the physical science students participate in the Boat Regatta.
There were cheers for every boat no matter the results. These high school students and staff support each other.
The Gilpin Rec Center pool staff started to play pirate music as oars were handed out and the first boat was launched.
Boat 1, known as Kai-Yak, cut through the water from one end of the pool to the other in 21 seconds.
Boat 2, known as SSS (Sleepy Sinking Ship), mostly sank. It made it to the end of the pool in 1 minute and 39 seconds on pure upper body strength, from the captain paddling and with a little help from Kollar.
Boat 3 bobbled in the water, struggling with forward motion. The captain did not give up until the boat began taking on too much water. It was a strong effort.
Boat 4 was launched and sank fairly quickly.
Boat 5 was large in size, with extra reinforcements built inside. The captain of this boat took 29 seconds to reach the other end of the pool. The boat stayed afloat.
The Kai-Yak won the Second Annual Boat Regatta.
Students and staff laughed, cheered, enjoyed the event, and had a great time with this hands-on learning experience. Everyone was able to jump in the pool at the end of the Boat Regatta.
This is one of many interactive learning activities students experience at Chinook West.
