Tech students race handmade cardboard boats for homecoming

HOUGHTON, Mich. (WLUC) - Michigan Tech University students celebrated homecoming with annual cardboard boat races.

Each team of 8 to 12 racers are required to build a boat out of cardboard, duct tape and only a slight amount of water-based epoxy glue.

Each team had to get into the boat, paddle around a buoy and back to the beach without leaving anything behind.

The races were scored based on creativity, design and time it took them to get around the buoy.

Amy Hjerstedt, student leadership and involvement coordinator, said this has been competitive for many years.

“Sometimes they won’t even tell you where they’re getting some of this cardboard, because they have a lot of strategy and design that goes from generation to generation,” said Hjerstedt. “When I asked one of the student groups, they were like, ‘no, we can’t tell you, it’s confidential, we pass it down.’”

The team with the most points at the end of the week of events win a trophy and endless bragging rights.

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