Tulsa Honor Academy Students Use Math, Science To Prepare For Great Raft Race

There are only about 50 spots left for the Great Tulsa Raft Race, and this weekend is your last chance to sign up.

But teams have already been busy building their rafts. 

Some kids at Tulsa Honor Academy are just ten, 11 and 12 but they're already taking an engineering class, and their first project is to build a raft to compete with the local pros.

"We're going to be making stuff that we haven't made before," said student Ismael Ponce.

The students have been sketching their designs, learning about the math and physics needed to make them work and comparing notes so they enter their best one.

Eight different classes will each enter a raft. While the design stage is right now, next week they will actually start to build the rafts.

It's a class project that has been inspired by the community coming together to make the Great Tulsa Raft Race a 'Tulsa staple' once again and in the process ignite the imagination and determination of some of our great young minds.

Ponce is one of 206 kids at the school. Ninety-eight percent of them qualify for free and reduced lunch, yet they have a 97 percent attendance rate. These kids are driven to succeed.

"You're trying to make it float, but then it doesn't float, and so you are determined to actually make it float,” said Ponce. “So you actually keep trying, and trying, and trying to make it float to make it perfect."

The kids are being taught by former electrical engineer Ryan Atkins who says he couldn't be any happier and proud to see his students so interested in using math and science to have fun. 

"It gets the kids excited about math and science, and the practical applications of it," said Atkins. 

Visit the following link to register for the race: Tulsa's Great Raft Race