By ASHLEY WORLEY/Staff Writer
On Saturday, Oct. 21, the College of Engineering hosted its annual Delek US Ratliff Relays, featuring a lineup of competitions that included cardboard canoe races on Harvey Lake.
Over 400 engineering students teamed up to represent their departments for the Relay. Some of the events included cardboard canoe racing for construction management and civil engineering, chemically powered cars for chemical engineering, bottle rockets for mechanical engineering, and drone racing for electrical engineering.
On Harvey Lake, 38 cardboard boats raced from shore to shore in groups of three. Two boats sank, automatically failing a third of their project’s grade.
“It’s an assignment, so it’s made up of three parts,” Construction Management professor Joe Boylan said. “Your pre-design… your post-design, and then, did your design work? If they did the other two parts, it’s not like they lose everything.”
The event’s title sponsor, Delek US, gave $12,500 to the College of Engineering in partnership with Student Success. Each department awards its top three winners $400-$200, and at the end of the day, the overall best-performing department was awarded.
According to Boylan, yearly post-event survey results reveal the significance of students collaborating and competing.
“This one event had a significant impact on student life experience,” Boylan said. “You know, this is the only time that everybody gets together in the college… that’s very, very difficult to get the whole student body together to meet each other. It’s good bonding, good teamwork, good technical skills, and on a nice afternoon like this, it’s fun.”