Williams Elementary School students compete in STEM boat races in Jonesville

JONESVILLE — Riverfest weekend in downtown Jonesville is here.

Fifth grade students in the Williams Elementary School STEM program gathered on the banks of the St. Joseph River Thursday morning to compete head-to-head against other students' boats built in a hands-on learning experience that culminated in Thursday's races.

The students have been participating in the STEM program for a few weeks which includes an engineering design class to learn about the buoyancy, density and mass of a small, handcrafted boat which each of the students designed themselves.

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A number of parent volunteers and community leaders joined the students Thursday to help make the races a success in a small creek leading into the high-flowing current of the St. Joseph River, just off U.S. 12 in downtown Jonesville.

— Contact Reporter Corey Murray atcmurray@hillsdale.net or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @cmurrayHDN.