2006 Miracle Yearbook

414.4,11r4a, It was a cool and drizzly afternoon when the Engineering Department hosted their 13th annual Canoe Race across 40114. Cedar Lake. Twenty-four teams of freshman engineers and campus departments protected their cardboard dinghies ‘14.. from light rain while dark clouds filled the skies and hid the characteristically bright sun from the activities at goo hand. Umbrellas dotted the crowd of students, who were waiting opposite the launching dock, anxious for the races to begin. All eyes focused on the canoes as team members delicately lowered them into the water, praying the cardboard bearings wouldn't give way. "It was very intense,"freshman James Elgersma told me. "In a single *111,111 instant, we could be watching our carefully crafted cardboard construction sink to a watery grave, taking a quarter of our grade with it!" Indeed, with added restrictions for this year's race, including less tape, less cardboard, and a fifty percent increase in course length, the pressure was on. Freshman Jordan Winter discovered, as had so many others before him,"Our beloved canoe was impervious.., until it got in the water." Still, whether participants emerged victorious or took an unexpected swim, the afternoon was definitely a one-of-a-kind experience for everyone. This year's race also had some unexpected entries. The departmental canoes included CAB, Honors, Library, and the first ever cardboard surfboard, compliments of Graphics Design. Dennis Nangle, a paddler for the library, said, "I liked starting the Library canoe tradition, and I'm certain we'll develop various aqua dynamic strategies and methods that will put us in the number one spot next year! After all, we've got limitless resources right at our fingertips!" When the Honors canoe sank just yards from the finish, team members went under with about as much grace as the Demolition Derby, but with hands raised and faces glowing. When questioned afterward, team member Karen Williams, a junior, simply replied, "We do philosophy, not boats." A. Freshman Miles McGee employs two key strategies to ensure a safe travel across the lake:"We figured out how to use less tape and cardboard for everything, and we paddled across the lake very slowly to make sure we didn't splash water into the boat." 20 Fall Clearly a victim of the newly-extended lake route, freshman Taylor Durling takes a spill, similar to several of the shipwrecked freshmen who met their fate on the treacherous waves of Cedar Lake.