Students from Chelmsford’s École secondaire catholique Champlain are in Waterloo today to represent Northern Ontario at the Provincial Cardboard Boat Race Championship.

Champlain students qualified for the provincial championship by taking the gold medal at the regional Cardboard Boat Races competition held in Sturgeon Falls in December.

During this competition, Champlain accumulated a solid score of 89.5 out of a possible 100 points for having designed a speedy boat with a load capacity of 495 pounds.

The championship team members heading to the provincial championship are Jonathan Rossi, Max Dequanne and Joshua Deschamps, working under the guidance of their teacher, Sylvie Parisé.

As was the case at the regional level, the provincial finalists will put their engineering and team-work skills to the test. This event, put on by Skills Canada Ontario, will require each team to design and build a boat.

Students will be judged on the design and construction quality of their boats, teamwork, organization, security and cleanliness, creativity, team spirit and the speed and resistance of their vessels.

Eager to compete with the best teams from across Ontario, students dedicated a great deal of energy to their preparation, said Champlain principal Anne Castonguay.

“While focusing on team work, the Champlain students expect to benefit from technical and scientific knowledge acquired during the course of the school year. Our students are our finest ambassadors and never cease to promote our school and community with great pride at the regional and provincial level.”