Current Release: April 28th, 2009 | Vol. XXX Iss. 10

Photos By Evan Ashby

Annual Cardboad Boat Regatta lives in new location

By leah Hammond

lmhammond@vwc.edu

After collecting 637 cardboard boxes, seven months of planning and taking Management of Recreation and Leisure Studies I and II, Carmen Dawkins, Heather Galbraith, Chelsea Richardson and Bonnie Braziel executed their class project: the 6th Annual Cardboard Boat Regatta.

This Virginia Wesleyan tradition, was usually held at Camp Silver Beach during Scene II Orientation in August, was held April 24 in the school s Natatorium.

 This is the first time that the Cardboard Boat Regatta was on campus, said Junior Carmen Dawkins, a member of the recreation and leisure class project.  Just because Camp Silver Beach is no longer, doesn t mean the Cardboard Boat Regatta has to be.

Since October, Dawkins, Galbraith, Richardson and Braziel have been planning this project assigned by Recreation and Leisure Studies Professor, Dr. Doug Kennedy. In September, the ten person class was put into groups and assigned one of four projects. The only guideline that Kennedy gave them was that it had to be an event that allowed faculty and students to work together.

While early on in the planning stage, the four person team decided that they wanted more of the campus community involved than just professors and students. To accomplish this, they asked for help from the library, Director of Sustainability and Energy, Kerry Brackett and Rec-X.

 We knew we wanted to have our event to support the VWC  go green message, said Dawkins.  We asked for boxes that were used to pack books from the library and Kerry Brackett assisted us in making our event more sustainable.

From the flyers to the boxes, mostly everything was recyclable. One of the biggest challenges that Bracket and the team faced was trying to recycle the wet boxes; however in the end, those were able to be recycled too.

To advertise the event, the team made a giant model of a cardboard boat and hung it off the stairs by the clock tower in the Jane P. Batten Student Center. The team also personally invited professors to sign up by sending them paper boats with the regatta information attached.

 I thought the boat advertisement was a clever idea, said sophomore Liz Scales.  I thought the boat was put together extremely well and looking up at it, I thought it was a real boat.

Despite it being a sunny 75 degree Friday afternoon, Dawkins, Galbraith, Richardson and Braziel had six teams participating- Recreation and Leisure Studies, Political Science, Chemistry, Special Education and two from Management, Business and Economics.

Cardboard boat teams were judged on the categories Best Overall Time, Most Academically Spirited, and Most Creative. The judges were Kerry Brackett and Ronda Rothwell.

There were three heats and two teams competed against each other at a time. The first heat was Chemistry vs. Recreation and Leisure Studies. The second heat featured Political Science and Management and the third heat had Business Administration and Special Education competing.

Although her team didn t win anything, Junior Jaci Hall and her Management team partners had fun.

 It was fun because almost everyone s boat got destroyed, said Hall.  It was a fun competition too. We thought we had a chance to win but we pretty much sunk our boat and went for a swim!

The Chemistry team also thought that their chances of winning were high. The team decided to put a keel at the bottom for stability and aerodynamics but it didn t work as well as planned.

 The idea for the keel was good, said Sophomore Jen Forbes.  The problem we faced was trying to get the boat in the water without messing up the keel. It didn t work out too well.

Though their boat didn t float and they didn t win Best Overall Time, the Chemistry team won Most Creative. The team dressed up in aprons and wore goggles. They named their boat  The Element and had a periodic table for a flag.

The Recreation and Leisure team that consisted of Nicole Bailey, Sarah Parks, Heather Galbraith and Bonnie Braziel won Most Academically Spirited.

 I think they won because Recreation and Leisure students have fun in participating in events like this, laughed Dawkins.  We have fun with our major and these girls were laughing and having a lot of fun with the race.

The Overall Best Time winner was the Business Administration team. The Business Administration team members were JC Ogburn, Rob Johnson and Kevin Granger who had a time under 2:46.

The Overall Best Time winner won the grand prize of an  oversized trophy as Dawkins explained. The other teams won t-shirts and water bottles donated by Rec-X.

 I think that this event was a lot of fun and it turned out well, said Dawkins.  I think that we had a good project and we all worked well together. I hope that next year another management team can hold the 7th annual Cardboard Boat Regatta.