This summer, the University of Wisconsin-Platteville will welcome an estimated 400 students and guests from across the country as it hosts the 36th annual American Society of Civil Engineers Concrete Canoe Competition. The event, which runs June 10-12, is part of ASCE’s Civil Engineering Student Championships, which also includes two new competitions introduced in 2021 — the National Surveying Competition and Sustainable Solutions Competition.
The Concrete Canoe Competition tasks student teams with designing and building a canoe entirely from concrete. Teams are scored on their design paper, final product, presentation and races. The races will take place on Blackhawk Lake and include a sprint and slalom.
UW-Platteville has hosted the regional Concrete Canoe Competition in the past and virtually hosted the 2021 national competition, but this is the first year hosting it in-person.
Austin Cooper, a junior civil engineering student from Sun Prairie, Wisconsin, is executive chair of the event committee and said the students are looking forward to welcoming guests to the Midwest.
“Our goal is to provide them with the Wisconsin experience and give them a sense of our culture,” he said.
The event is student-run, with approximately 18 UW-Platteville students serving on the organizing committee.
“Participating in this is giving us a chance to practice leadership, organization and teamwork – all of the skills that we don’t learn in the classroom,” said Cooper. “It also gives us good connections and opportunities for networking.”
The UW-Platteville student chapter of ASCE is seeking sponsors to support the event as well as volunteers to work at the event. For more information about the event, including sponsorship opportunities, visit www.uwplatt.edu/asce-championships.