The 2025 Mid-Atlantic East & West ASCE Student Symposium took place March 28-29th at the Pennsylvania State University in University Park, PA. A few dual degree Civil Engineering and Architecture students participated; juniors Fatima De Leon and Jennifer Eattock, and sophomore Anna Basola contributed significantly to the team's 2nd place overall win.
The Concrete Canoe Competition has been organized by the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) since their first national competition in 1988 held in Michigan. It is an annual event where student teams from different universities design, build and race canoes made out of concrete. It is an educational experience with different competition categories, including project proposal oral presentation, prototype and display, and actual canoe racing.
A total of eighteen students represented Catholic University this year, with fourteen of them attending the symposium. Each student contributed to one or more of the categories of the competition.
The Project Proposal was coordinated and overseen by Anna, and formatted by Jennifer, and they took a first place win in this category. Jenny was among the four students who presented the Oral Presentation, where they also claimed first place.
In the Prototype and Display category, the team placed fifth despite the stunning cherry blossom theme and design. Jenny and Fatima competed in the female Sprint and Slalom Races, claiming fourth place.
These scores led to an overall 2nd Place win, beating the University of Pittsburgh and Penn State.
The Catholic University chapter of ASCE continues to grow and compete at major competitions; five other teams participated in other events this year, including the Steel Bridge, Surveying, 3D Printed Bridge, Sustainable Solutions, and Mead Paper competitions.
An incredible overall effort from this team, and special congrats to Jenny, Anna, and Fatima!
Written by Katherine Chmielewski; cowritten by Jenny Eattock and Boaz Yavnai.