Middle School Students Engineer for Speed

MSB holds the second annual “Cardboard Sled Downhill Classic.”

A sunny, snow-melting weekend wasn’t able to keep 7th graders from the Middle School for Boys off the Snake Rock slopes on Monday, March 6 for the second annual MSB Cardboard Sled Downhill Classic.
 
Students had spent two weeks in January during advisory time building sleds from only cardboard and duct tape. They sketched scaled designs from which they built the sleds and made changes as needed in the building process, taking into account the shape and permeability of the cardboard, the direction and friction of the duct tape with the snow, and the weight and positioning of the sledders.
 
But then they waited over five weeks as a warm February and successive school snow day cancellations foiled each scheduled attempt for the event. Finally, that chilly Monday 7th grade team leader Chris Paris and Head of School Lesley Rodriguez were out at dawn piling the remaining night-hardened snow on the tracks and testing the slope conditions before students walked their sleds across campus first thing that morning. Each pair had two runs down the hill before a championship round.
 
Ryan Chequer and Max Yuan won the Creative Sled category for their steamboat sled, and Sebastian Gomez-Valdez and Luke Mamou had the fastest downhill time of 5.5 seconds. A good time was had by all!
 
Thanks very much to parents who came out to support!
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