Photo by Diana Quirk
Float on
- Published: June 9, 2025
Physics on the open water: Last week, YS High School AP physics students tested the mettle of the craft they had created as part of teacher Brandon Lowry’s cardboard boat project in the Antioch College Wellness Center’s pool.
As Lowry told the News this week, students were given the task of designing cardboard boats that displaced enough water to carry their lab groups of two to three people; that resisted the direction and magnitude of pressures against the boats’ structures; and could be paddled from one end of the pool to the other — and back again — in a race.
“Most were seaworthy enough to make it to one end but not back, which is part of the fun,” Lowry wrote this week. “Normally they plan their build during our unit on fluids and spend much more time building them after the AP Physics I test. This year, the AP test was on the last day for seniors (and last regular week of school), so I cut their time drastically shorter with the expectation that many will sink.”
Students Elena Triguero Sanchez and Evie Thomas built the winning boat that successfully made the trek across the pool and back. Since Thomas was out on the day of the boat races, student Izzi Espinosa filled in, aiding Triguero Sanchez in piloting the cardboard boat to victory. The winning boat and its pilots are pictured paddling above.
Lowry added a “shout-out” to Wellness Center Director Kathy Kern Ross and the rest of the staff, “for being so welcoming and helpful!”
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