CHESTERTOWN — Radcliffe Creek School students were treated to a presentation by Washington College’s world record-setting electric boat team Friday, Sept. 20.
Team members including president Douglas Hewes (Radcliffe Creek School, Class of 2018) shared their inspiring story of how they overcame design failures.
Hewes was accompanied by teammates Mac Sansbury and Tiyaba Jamil and team advisor Brian Palmer.
By thoughtfully building better batteries, stronger electric motors, more efficient solar technology and hydrodynamic hull designs, Washington was able to win multiple races against colleges and universities with large engineering programs.
“Our students are taking away technical insights that are valuable of course, but perhaps more important is the practice they are getting at recognizing problems to solve, learning how to design solutions, and not getting dissuaded when things don’t always turn out as they hoped,” Palmer said in a news release. “It’s a great opportunity for them to build technical capabilities as well as perseverance and grit that is needed to see complex projects through to fruition.”
Palmer shared the news about the team’s most recent success, establishing a new Guinness World Record for the greatest distance by an electric boat on a single charge without solar on the Chester River over the Labor Day weekend.
By the time they ran out of battery on Monday, Sept. 2, they had gone nearly 24 miles more than the record set in 2001 by the Thames Electric Launch Company in England.
“When we were building the trimaran, we didn’t even think about beating a world record or even thought we could. Then, we did the calculations and then we realized, hey, we might actually be able to beat the record,” Hewes said in the news release.
Radcliffe Creek School students had the opportunity to watch video footage of the record-breaking effort and see the winning boat in person, as well as to ask questions about the boat’s design and the team’s plans for the future.
In a written statement, Head of School Peter Thayer said: “We are grateful to the Washington College electric boat team for sharing their story about how they overcame failure to find success. It’s important for our students to hear that it’s okay to try hard and come up short; in all good design thinking, failure is just part of the learning process. It was apparent from the number of hands in the air and the thoughtful student questions that this remarkable story had a real impact on our young learners.”
To learn more about the electric boat team at Washington College, visit wacelectricboat.com.
One Response
What a story! Congratulations to all, especially to Douglas. Thanks for publishing, Trish.