GEMS makes a splash at cardboard boat races
Anna Lalande, and Jasmine Machhi, seniors, row their boat.
On Saturday, May 18, GEMS (Girls Exploring Math and Science) held their last event of the school year, and faculty advisor Mr. Paul Sivanich’s, last event before his retirement. The club went out with a bang, or rather a splash, at Cardboard Boat Races.
For the first time, GEMS invited both boys and girls to the event.
Club members brought piles of cardboard boxes, rolls of duct tape, and lots of enthusiasm for this creative event. The objective of the night was to build a boat out of just cardboard that is strong enough to carry two people across the pool and back. Awards were given to the boat with the best design, the fastest team, and that floated the longest.
The teams varied in terms of strategy, with some groups using formal physics equations and others simply taping their pieces together.
Esther Zelenovsky, senior co-president of the club, is happy with how everything turned out. “Ending my last ever GEMS event with boat races could have been the best decision yet. The experience of building a boat with no physics behind it and then sinking within the first 20 seconds still makes me laugh,” Zelenovsky said.
Zelenovsky’s team, which included Katey VanVooren, senior, and Ava Wojnowski and Megan Carley, juniors, won best design. Their “Mr. Sivanich themed boat” featured pictures of him, his cat, and the famous “Johnny Pops” that he passes out to classes.
The team of Pierce Stastney and Zach Teplin, seniors, and Colby Sehnert, freshman, won for both fastest and longest floating boat.
For Sivanich, this was his last event with GEMS after five years as the adviser. “I really haven’t had time to think of it as my last GEMS event; it will probably hit me sometime this summer. All I know is that I had a lot of fun at the boat races,” Sivanich said.
Next year, Mrs. Ashley Ackmann, chemistry teacher and current co-advisor of GEMS, will take over for Sivanich, and the girls look forward to another eventful year of inspiring young girls to take part in STEM.
Megan Carley is a junior at Homestead High School, and this is her first year on the Highlander Publications staff. Outside of school, you can find her...
