(April 27, 2017) A handful of Stephen Decatur High School students from Larry Ryan’s engineering and design class will compete in the second annual Eastern Shore Crab Boat Engineering Challenge on Friday, which is hosted by the University of Maryland Eastern Shore School of Business and Technology.
“They have really done a good job on it. It takes a long time to do this and there is a lot involved,” Ryan said. “I think it will be a good competition.”
Using Ryan’s guidance and insight from two residents with boat constructing expertise, seven students helped to develop a 40.5-inch wooden model of a 40-foot deadrise crab boat.
“A lot of the information came from local resources,” Ryan said. “It has been a learning process for all of us.”
Students also utilized information from books and videos on YouTube to create the radio-controlled boat with an electric motor.
“The students completely designed and built the boat on their own,” Ryan said. “Another student produced a video of the whole process.”
The objective of the competition in Cambridge is for boats to carry as many crab pots at one-pound each as possible. The winner takes home an awards plaque and bragging rights.
Students will be judged in a number of categories including a written report, boat design and construction, oral presentation and performance demonstration.
“This covers all the different content we try to include in the curriculum,” Ryan said. “Students are using problem solving skills, learning where to mount the motor and how to integrate electronic components in addition to structural elements and fluid technology.”
Students are also taught safety while using a variety of tools along with Eastern Shore history, mathematics, engineering design and Archimedes’ principle of density and buoyancy.
“It is a holistic approach and we incorporate all these skills into one project,” Ryan said.
Students from all grade levels began construction on the crab boat in October at Stephen Decatur High School.
Kaleb Steele, a freshman, liked working on the electronic components of the project and learning the boat terms.
“I liked learning how the boat is built and all the parts involved,” Steele said.
Jeremy Novak, a sophomore, did the bulk of the work using his shop experience background.
“I enjoyed working with Joey Miller, a local boat builder. He taught us how to do a lot of these things [during the boat-building process] and he was a nice guy to be around,” Novak said. “I learned a lot of little things. But overall, the skills to teach others [stood out the most].”
“They have really done a good job on it. It takes a long time to do this and there is a lot involved,” Ryan said. “I think it will be a good competition.”
Using Ryan’s guidance and insight from two residents with boat constructing expertise, seven students helped to develop a 40.5-inch wooden model of a 40-foot deadrise crab boat.
“A lot of the information came from local resources,” Ryan said. “It has been a learning process for all of us.”
Students also utilized information from books and videos on YouTube to create the radio-controlled boat with an electric motor.
“The students completely designed and built the boat on their own,” Ryan said. “Another student produced a video of the whole process.”
The objective of the competition in Cambridge is for boats to carry as many crab pots at one-pound each as possible. The winner takes home an awards plaque and bragging rights.
Students will be judged in a number of categories including a written report, boat design and construction, oral presentation and performance demonstration.
“This covers all the different content we try to include in the curriculum,” Ryan said. “Students are using problem solving skills, learning where to mount the motor and how to integrate electronic components in addition to structural elements and fluid technology.”
Students are also taught safety while using a variety of tools along with Eastern Shore history, mathematics, engineering design and Archimedes’ principle of density and buoyancy.
“It is a holistic approach and we incorporate all these skills into one project,” Ryan said.
Students from all grade levels began construction on the crab boat in October at Stephen Decatur High School.
Kaleb Steele, a freshman, liked working on the electronic components of the project and learning the boat terms.
“I liked learning how the boat is built and all the parts involved,” Steele said.
Jeremy Novak, a sophomore, did the bulk of the work using his shop experience background.
“I enjoyed working with Joey Miller, a local boat builder. He taught us how to do a lot of these things [during the boat-building process] and he was a nice guy to be around,” Novak said. “I learned a lot of little things. But overall, the skills to teach others [stood out the most].”