FULLERTON : Physics Students Pool Their Talents

The 10th annual physics class boat race at Sunny Hills High School was held Wednesday, and 49 of 70 boats made it across the campus pool without capsizing.

Each year, physics teacher Marcia Dison assigns her students to the building of boats from butcher paper, quarter-inch wood strips, wood glue and waterproof varnish. The students earn 15 points for creating a boat and 25 points if it can be paddled across the pool. A student can earn five points beyond that for talking a teacher into paddling the boat, or 10 extra points for persuading an administrator to paddle the boat.

Among the teachers who piloted boats was Lynn Jacobson, who used a diving board to carefully lower herself into a tiny craft--which promptly sank. However, other boats made multiple trips across the pool before breaking up and sinking.

“It was a great learning experience,” said Sunny Hills Principal George Giokaris. “It’s evident the students learned their lessons.”