Students come to the water for STEM project

They do like to be creative, but with some of them, it’s just not gonna’ float. But, that’s okay. You learn from that, too.”

Laurie Millar, fifth- through eighth-grade science and art teacher, St. Joseph School, Salisbury

CLICK HERE to see a gallery of photos from this event.

Quinn Clark had been coming to the annual St. Joseph School STEM boat races in Salisbury since she was little.

“Mrs. Millar, can our class do it this year?” she’d ask each time.

“Not yet. You’re not old enough,” Laurie Millar, the school’s fifth- through eighth-grade science and art teacher would tell her.

Now in fifth grade, Quinn gazed with anticipation across Salisbury Municipal Pool as older students schlepped their self-made vessels to and fro’.

“I can’t WAIT to do this next year!” she said.

“What if I told you this is the last year we’re having it?” Mrs. Millar inquired with mock gravitas.

“No! Don’t even say that!” Quinn fired back.

Their laughter got drowned out by about 150 cheering and cajoling adults and children, sprawled out all over the pool deck.

The sixth- through eighth-graders, having designed and fashioned boats from ordinary objects for a STEM project, were taking turns testing their handiwork’s seaworthiness.

It was a night to remember.

“You do see a lot of joy from these kids,” said Mrs.  Millar. “They encourage each other, they build each other up while they’re having fun and learning.” 

STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and math.

“There wouldn’t be any science if it weren’t for our Creator,” Mrs.  Millar noted. “When we learn about science, we gain valuable clues about who God is and our purpose for being here. We honor him when we marvel at what he created and how it works, and we do our best to take care of it.”

Teams of two, three and four took turns boarding and paddling the outrageously decorated, some seemingly impossibly constructed, boats adorned with names like “Unsinkable 2.0,” “Shark Bait,” “Shor-thang,” “Just Row With It” and “Sea You Later.”

Many of the materials were reused or recycled.

One of the seventh-grader’s boats capsized just as he was getting started, and he backstroked the entire length of the pool and back, the aft portion of his boat sagging haplessly below the water line.

He got even more applause for his tenacity than his competitors whose boats stayed afloat.

Blake Stundebeck, a seventh-grader, and his teammate, Clara Linneman, successfully maneuvered their boat across the pool without tipping or taking on water.

Blake said the key to procuring a seaworthy craft is balance.

“We had to build our boat, use teamwork and make sure it was all balanced,” he explained.

The time they spent in class designing and building their boats was fun and instructive.

“It helped you learn about measuring and things like that,” he said.

Eighth-grader Jacob White and classmate Brooks Nanneman paddled the aptly named On the Pontoon — “you know, like the song” — across the pool without incident.

“It went really well, actually,” said Jacob. “Better than we thought it would.”

He had watched his older siblings sink or stay afloat at previous school boat races.

“I’ve seen a lot of different boats,” he said. “My friend and I wanted to come with our own, and use parts of what worked well for other people.

“We learned that we could have gone faster if we’d have made it smaller,” he added.

Its own appointed limits

This was Mrs. Millar’s sixth year heading up the boat races.

She got the idea after seeing a TV report about a similar event at Bass Pro Lake in Columbia.

“I thought it could be fun for STEM and one that we could manage to pull off,” she said. “So I asked people to start saving water bottles and milk jugs and other things we could use for it.”

Each student’s family provided two rolls of duct tape for the project, along with cardboard and other objects needed to build the boats.

“They also encouraged them and help them think of ideas from year to year,” said Mrs. Millar.

The STEM boats employ aspects of both of her disciplines — art and science.

“A little bit of everything,” she noted. “A lot of science, learning about things like buoyancy. Some math, because we do a lot of measuring, which is obviously part of STEM.”

They also got points for creativity.

“They do like to be creative, but with some of them, it’s just not gonna’ float,” the teacher noted. “But, that’s okay. You learn from that, too.”

The day of the races, after inspecting the boats, she sealed up an envelope containing her predictions for which ones would stay afloat.

She opened the envelope in class the next day and talked about what worked, what didn’t, and the reasons why.

“I think I only got three wrong this year,” she said.

She noted the difference between sixth-graders building boats for the first time and eighth-graders who have a few years’ experience.

“In sixth-grade, a lot of them flip because they don’t necessary think Mrs. Millar quite knows what she’s talking about on the stability thing,” she said. “They think it’s all just ‘how much flotation do I have?’”

Over time, they learn to listen more and to benefit from past experience.

And they have even more fun.

“They’re very persistent and they are such great cheerleaders for each other,” said Mrs. Millar.

She’s never had a group not cheer for a team whose boat tipped or took on water.

“They always drag their boat to the other end,” she said. “Some of their friends might get in and help them. But they’re always cheering each other on.”

Laughter is good, she stated: “Nobody gets upset, nobody gets embarrassed.”

All the while, she hopes some of her students who are gifted with their hands will discover through the STEM boat project their life’s passion in one of the trades.

“Just coming up with a design and measurements and all the hands-on skills — if they didn’t think they’d be good at that, and they realize that they are, that’s great,” she said.

Merrily, merrily ...

Mrs. Millar said the sense of accomplishment the students take from this project gives them insight into the delight of their Creator.

“If they get this happy with a little project like this, can you even fathom the joy God must get from people, from Creation, from the work of his own hands?” she asked.

She believes learning some of the laws of the universe helps students draw parallels between scientific and spiritual pursuits — complementary ways of examining different aspects of the same truth.

“Teaching science in a Catholic school gives me an opportunity to show how they can be a Catholic and believe in science and believe in the Creator and see things from many perspectives,” she said. “And hopefully, that sometimes takes their breath away.”

Jacob said he enjoys learning and having fun as a student at St. Joseph School.

“It’s a blast,” he said. “And I like that we get to go to church, and everyone joins in in prayer.”

He’s convinced that he’ll be very ready for high school next year.

Blake said he feels right at home at St. Joe.

“Lots of friends, nice people, nice teachers,” he stated.

Mrs. Millar and her three siblings are St. Joseph School graduates, as are her children — as were her parents.

She taught there from 1996-99 before working in special education for four years at the local public school.

This is her ninth year back at St. Joseph.

“I loved the kids in special ed, but it got to where I felt I was doing more paperwork than teaching,” she stated. “I really like the hands-on, and I get to do that here.” 

She said working in special education helped hone her patience, perspective and appreciation for various learning styles.

Have those lessons stuck with her?

“Definitely!” she stated. “DEF-FIN-IT-LEE!”

She can’t imagine going anywhere else to each.

“Honestly, we have a great group here,” she said. “We all get along so well, and whatever one person might have a weakness in, the next person is super-strong in, and we play off that super-well,” she said.

She’s confident that her current students will be able to send their own children to St. Joseph School if that’s what God has in mind for them.

“We have a great church community. Lots of support — everything we need,” she said.

Quinn, the fifth-grader, isn’t looking ahead that far.

“I’m looking forward to having Mrs. Millar teach us how to build a boat, and I’m looking forward to everybody working together and getting out there and having fun,” she said.