Seniors embark on rafting adventure

Two seniors, Jonathan Bartlett and Mikah Semon, paddled down the Milwaukee River on their handmade raft on Friday, May 22. According to Bartlett’s Facebook post, the students have been constructing the raft for months using “plastic bottles, wood, duct tape and a few other things.” Bartlett and Semon named their vessel: The Nellie.

In a statement on Facebook, Bartlett announced the completion of the project and invited “anyone and everyone who wants to come and send us off.” He concluded the post with the proclamation, “Long live our raft ‘The Nellie,’ a cruising yawl.”

The students started paddling in Thiensville Park and continued for over three hours down the river. Bartlett hauled a backpack and both boys wore life vests. They traveled at a “slow, but fairly reasonable pace.” According to Bartlett, navigating “was fairly easy once we figured out how to balance the raft properly.”  However, areas of the river posed problems for The Nellie; occasionally, Semon and Bartlett were forced to get off the raft and push it through rocky areas.

Earlier in the day, Bartlett donated blood to Student Council’s annual Blood Drive.  Bartlett recalls being “immediately exhausted afterwards.” According to the website for the BloodCenter of Wisconsin, “Strenuous activity should be avoided for 12 hours after donating.”

Over the summer, Bartlett plans to take The Nellie out again, perhaps make improvements and “see what she can do.” However, for now, he’s going to “give her a well-deserved rest.”