By Cooper Baehr
Last week was build week at Long-View micro school. This means academics come to a halt (all classes etc.) and we have a building project. Usually, every year the school has a "cardboard boat regatta" at the end of the year and designs boats out of only cardboard and duct tape that have to carry a person. Usually, this happens at Lake Austin. This year, because of COVID-19, school administration could not find a safe way to do it normally. So they chose to change it up a little bit. Last week they surprise-announced the build week to learners. There were four groups of each a little under 20 people, the groups divided into subgroups who had to complete the larger groups challenge.
Here are the larger groups and their challenges:
The first group was tasked with making boats that were eco-friendly, meaning they didn't use duct tape. This group used a variety of substances to try to waterproof it without the duct tape. This included melting soy wax onto cardboard and attaching it with biodegradable tape or string. These boats had to carry a passenger.
The second group was tasked with making "fishing boats." This group's challenge was probably most close to the normal annual "cardboard boat regatta." It had to support weight for over an hour and the group had to write instructions for how to make it.
The third group was to make floating art pieces that were made of only cardboard and duct tape. The art pieces had to educate about a social or environmental cause.
The fourth group had to make sailboats. These had to carry a person and be able to adjust the sail. These were made out of bamboo sticks, fabric, cardboard, duct tape, and rope.
The build week was last week, but this week, we tested the boats.
on Wednesday the 28th, we tested the boats. Each group who wanted to test their boat signed up. It was an optional activity. The groups that were testing put their boat out on the parking lot before class started. Groups that were testing their boats went to the parking lot at 10:40ish and began to carry their boats to the park where they had lunch daily. At the park, there is a creek that is a little bit above knee-deep, and this was where the boats were tested and floated. The rest of Long-View that wasn't testing boats came to the side of the creek to spectate. Each group had a captain that piloted their boat, and the captains all got extremely wet. All in all, it was a very fun day.