Monday, April 16,2001
The University Daily Kansan
Section A • Page 5
Ethan Good runs an obstacle course while wearing beer goggles. The Marion senior in aerospace engineering was one of about 50 engineering students that participated in the Engineering Olympics on Friday. Photo by Thad Allendorf/KANSAN
Engineers stage olympics
Bv Sarah Warren
By Sarah Warren
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Banana peels, duct-tape balls and a mangled desk littered the lawn of Learned Hall on Friday afternoon after the first Engineering Olympics in five years.
The event, sponsored by the School of Engineering, brought 50 spectators and competitors to the lawn for six wild events. Some were engineering-related, but most were not. They included a tug-of-war, desk toss, duct-tape duo race, eating contest and six-event relay.
Teams were structured in accordance to the different subdivisions of engineering, said Jen Jones, St. Louis senior and olympics organizer.
The aerospace engineering team won the olympics, getting off to an early lead by demolishing the competition in the tug-of-war. The team defeated three teams in a row, pulling the losers into a baby pool filled with
water. It followed up that victory by winning the eating contest — one team member ate five bananas more quickly than any other competitor.
Saeed Farokhi, professor of aerospace engineering, revealed in the success of his students.
"I think this sort of proves that engineers want to have fun too," Farokhi said.
The desk-toss competition required competitors to heave a desk as far as they could. Eventually, the desk had to be reassembled with duct tape, but pieces continued to fall off.
"The janitors helped us find a desk that was already broken," Jones said. "It's a good thing because that one's destroyed."
There wasn't much duct tape left to reassemble the desk after the duct-tape duo race, however. The race involved duct-taping two team members together. The two teammates then hobbled a certain distance and back, as in a three-legged race.
the six-event relay, which included a water balloon catch, a race to correctly find the answer to an equation and a sprint during which participants wore goggles that simulated being drunk.
The competition concluded with
The Engineering Olympics were an annual event from 1986 to 1996 but were discontinued because of a lack of interest and organization. Jones said a mechanical engineering team had been the last champions and the department still had the trophy.
She said this year's events were restructured to be more inclusive.
"We didn't want to limit it," Jones said. "We wanted whoever wanted to participate to be able to."
When the games were finished, the electrical and computer science engineering team and the civil engineering team finished second and third.
"We hope that this event will successfully continue the olympics in the future," Jones said.
Edited by Leita Schultes
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