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St. A students golden at Skills Canada competition

Junior and senior high students take part in cardboard creation event at NAIT
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(L-R) David Kawahara, Nathan Giles, Adam Hoag and Mathew Kawahara stand proud with their gold medals in the junior high competition. Photo submitted

It was a golden moment for four St. Augustine School junior high students last month.

Two four-member teams — one each from junior and senior high — were in Edmonton on Jan. 31 to compete in the annual Skills Canada Alberta Cardboard Boat Challenge. The event, held at the NAIT pool, drew teams from across the province for the challenge of creating and construction a boat made of cardboard that will find its way across the water.

Teacher-advisor Pamela Hoffman explained the competition shows how well students can work together while using science, art and design in order to accomplish the goal of not sinking.

”Each team was supplied with cardboard, duct tape, packing tape and measuring tools,” she stated, noting teams were given 1.5 hours to build the boat.

“Points were awarded for design — blueprints from each team were submitted — and teamwork along with the speed across the pool and a float test.”

The junior team of David Kawahara, Nathan Giles, Adam Hoag and Mathew Kawahara proved to be too much for the other 40 teams, capturing the gold over the team from Bentley.

“The team’s design was solid and nicely decorated with Adam propelling the boat — The Neon Lightning — very quickly across the pool,” Hoffman said.

“And the crew were also successful in the float test, reaching the maximum one minute time limit with three members aboard.”

Unfortunately for the St. Augustine senior team of Judite Vold, Sydney Sinclair, Yael Witvoet and Anna Froese, history repeated itself.

Last year’s senior team submission was aptly named Titanic and subsequently dove to the bottom just like its original namesake. The Titanic 2, while described by Hoffman as very sturdy and work of art, followed its predecessor to the bottom of the pool as it took on water before it could reach the other side of the pool.

However, the team was still able to gain enough points to finish in the top 10 in the 13-team competition, placing ninth. Another STAR Catholic school, Leduc’s Christ the King won the senior category.

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(L-R) Nathan Giles, Mathew Kawahara, David Kawahara and Adam Hoag pose with their gold medal winning entry at the NAIT pool. Photo submitted