GEMS club hosts lower school aluminum boat competition

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Heritage’s Girls Excelling in Math and Science (GEMS) club partnered with the National Elementary Honors Society to put together a short challenge meant to encourage elementary students interest in STEM. Held Dec 9, the task was to build an aluminum foil boat within four by four inch parameters that would hold the most amount of wooden cubes.

GEMS co-presidents, senior Hailey Diaz, left, and junior Junyi Xiu, right, discuss the parameters of the project to students. “I think it was important to do this so that kids could understand that science can be fun as well as educational,” Xiu said. (Photo/Ella Gohari)

The elementary schoolers attempt to build water-worthy boats within the five-minute time frame. (Photos/Ella Gohari)

Each group tests how many wooden blocks their aluminum boats can hold. The winning group, “Pink,” created a boat that managed to carry 33 blocks before sinking. (Photos/Ella Gohari)

Senior Ellaheh Gohari is entering her fourth (and sadly final) year on staff and third year as co-EIC of the Patriot Post. She loves learning new things and can often be found going down Wikipedia rabbit holes in search of random knowledge. Outside of room 25310, she serves as co-president to both the Girls Excelling in Math and Science club and the Science National Honor Society. A science-lover, she enjoys exploring the subject through research projects with UMiami, volunteer tutoring with OTTER and fact-checks with MediaWise. She hopes you enjoy your time reading the Patriot Post.