May River High students design and race 3D‑printed mini boats in STEM challenge

May River High School engineering students used a hands-on design challenge to test 3D-printed mini boats, the county bulletin reported. An instructor explained he set parameters so classmates could compete to see whose boat carried the most pennies and to measure run times over a nine-foot course. "Some parameters that I gave them to design a competition between the classmates to see whose boat could carry the most pennies," the instructor said during the segment.

Students described iterative prototyping. One student said, "I was able to carry, like, 42 pennies without it sinking," and noted the craft moved faster when unloaded. Another student described researching hull types online and settling on a V-hull with plans to slim and shorten later prototypes after observing excess empty space in early models.

The bulletin noted a full video of the students’ projects is available on the schools' YouTube channel; the segment did not provide a direct, machine-readable link in the transcript, so viewers should consult the school or county channels for the posted video. The segment presented the project as classroom enrichment and did not discuss external funding or curricular changes.