Concrete Canoe Paddles to National Competition with Des Plaines Resident’s Help

Chances for success in a concrete canoe competition increase when your team includes someone who grew up along the Des Plaines River, or so it may seem following a recent win for a college in Indiana.

Shannon Osiecki, 20, an alum of Maine West High School, with her approximately 25 teammates at the University of Evansville in southern Indiana, are ready to compete in a national concrete canoe meet at the University of Illinois in Champaign in June. Her crew received top honors in a regional competition between about 15 teams in April, Osiecki said, and more than 20 teams of college students will paddle for the top prize at the national competition.

The concrete canoe competition has a long history, and this is the 13^th year Evansville is competing, Osiecki said. She is studying civil engineering and will begin her junior year in the fall. Osiecki worked on the stands and display table for the project, which is a yearlong process. She said it was helpful to apply what she learned in class.

“[I learned how to put] my civil engineering knowledge to use, instead of just taking exams and doing homework,” Osiecki said.

Civil engineers frequently used concrete, she said. Showing you could successfully work with it in the canoe competition had the potential of impressing potential employers, Osiecki said, and it promotes Evansville’s reputation as a place to study engineering.

There was another reason why the concrete canoe competition was popular among engineering students, she said.

“Making concrete float is just entertaining I guess,” Osiecki said.

Osiecki said her interest in engineering grew because, in part, her father was a carpenter and her grandfather was an architect.

Building a balsa wood bridge at Maine West was Osiecki’s introduction to engineering concepts, she said.

The regional competition took place at the same time Des Plaines was flooding, the weekend of April 18, on the other side of Lake Michigan, at Trine University in northeast Indiana. The Evansville team won without ever dipping an oar in the water because the rowing portion was canceled due to the storm. Points are also awarded for construction, presentation and the academic paper accompanying it.

Osiecki said her father sent her pictures of the floodwater as it approached her family’s home on the other side of River Road. She said she remembered the Des Plaines River growing up, but it had not influenced her to study civil engineering. She remembered one thing about it for sure, Osiecki said.

“My parents told me never to go in it,” Osiecki said.

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