The NJIT Concrete Canoe team took to Lake Wilson to ride their impressive, self-crafted, 17-foot concrete canoe on April 8th-10th. The team participated in designing, constructing and ultimately riding their vessel in the American Society of Civil Engineers Concrete Canoe Competition. The team consisted of 11 Civil Engineering students, ranging from freshman to seniors. Team captains Samantha Arcila and Elizabeth Mundkowsky, both first years, led the team to a third-place finish, a commendable feat given their late start to the 2021-2022 season. The season started in the summer of 2021, but they began in January 2022.
“We were proud just to have made it to that point,” Mundkowsky noted. “All day long we were smiling from nerves, hope and joy.” This year’s regional tournament was held in Clayton, New Jersey with NJIT going against teams from New York University, The College of New Jersey, and Fairleigh Dickinson University. The competition consisted of multiple parts that contribute to the final score, including: a presentation, the canoe itself, and a written report.
Khalil Santana, a senior who competed for the first time this year, was very impressed with the NYU canoe design which featured a horizon with a spring-theme on one side and a fall-theme on the other. He said of the competition, “It was a great experience. I highly recommend this to undergraduate students who want to work with others to achieve a common goal. I enjoyed making connections with students from different schools and meeting engineers who work in the field I want to pursue.”
Teams presented to a panel of judges from the American Society of Civil Engineers for the poster presentation. For the canoe portion of the score, the competing teams had to perform a swamp test, which entailed fully submerging their canoe and testing its buoyancy. Unfortunately for NJIT, NYU was the only team able to successfully row their canoe on the lake, and therefore won first place. NYU will go on to the national competition from June 3rd to June 5th at Louisiana Tech University, competing against the winners of the other regional tournaments. While this is NJIT’s first time participating in this competition since the COVID pandemic, the team is excited to continue their work for next year. In addition to working with new and familiar faces, Mundkowsky said, “I look forward to more time not only for design and testing.”
If you’re interested in learning more about the NJIT Concrete Canoe team, reach out to the team by email at [email protected], or their Instagram @njitconcretecanoe. They also have a Discord at https://tinyurl.com/njitcanoe. The club is always looking for new members to join the team and apply classroom concepts to a fun, hands-on project. All majors are welcome to join with no experience required.
