FORTA Gives Back – Donates to Concrete Canoe Competitions

It’s that time of year again! The concrete canoe season has begun and engineering students across the country are readying their competition canoe designs for the upcoming 2017 regional student competitions. Eighteen American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Student Conferences are held every spring around the country, each including a business meeting, professional/technical presentations, competitions (surveying, technical paper presentations, concrete canoe competition, steel bridge), social activities and an awards banquet.

The National Concrete Canoe Competition, hosted by the ASCE, is being held at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado from June 17-19, 2017. Student concrete canoe teams who win their regional competition will qualify to move on and compete in the ASCE-sponsored National Competition.

The concrete canoe competition is unique due to the chance for engineering students to design, build and actually compete in the canoe they create from their meticulously tested concrete mixtures. This requires moving beyond the classroom and applying skills they have learned in a real world scenarios using hands-on applications.

These concrete canoe teams often search for reinforcement methods to add to their concrete mix designs. In result, FORTA Corporation donates enough fiber samples to any team that request them for their concrete canoe designs. Usually, teams will request several pounds of fiber along with technical data and mixing instructions.

FORTA Corporation has been a long time sponsor of the student concrete canoe teams annually. FORTA Corporation, and our unique blend of fibers for concrete reinforcement, is happy to support engineering programs and students across the country.