By Wendi Reardon Price
Clarkston News Staff Writer
Clarkston High School Team RUSH Robotics students are hard at work prepping for the annual RUSH Regatta at Deer Lake Beach, July 8.
Students break into teams and build a boat made of only cardboard and duct tape to sail on the lake. The ultimate prize is the RUSH Cup, which goes to the team who earns the most points total from Cash Crusaders, Wicked Fast Watercraft and Enterprising & Seaworthy.
Junior Zach Marko and senior Daniel Bradstreet, both in their third year with Team RUSH, are on Team Three and shared they are doing well in the process as of June 19.

“We’ve contacted a lot of sponsors so far,” Bradstreet shared. “We have a lot of pledges, we just have to collect it. “
The money raised from sponsors is used during the FIRST Robotics competition season for supplies to build their robot, registration fees and travel expenses.
“As far as our boat, we thought it best to start early so our boat is going okay,” Bradstreet added. “We started early which is the important thing so we have time to work on it.”
“We are in the process of creating the shape of our boat,” Marko added.
Senior Lauren Sielinski, in her fourth and final year, is on Team One.
“We are doing really well with fund raising,” she said. “We have only been fund raising for a little over a week and we made over $2,000 with just our team.”
She added they hadn’t started building their boat but it was their next priority. But, they did decide on a theme – Finding Nemo.
It is Sielinski’s third regatta, with the first year being the Gutter Regatta due to COVID restrictions. She shared she has learned a lot from them.
“There’s usually 2-3 designs that always keep popping up,” she said. “People have tried to get creative. Someone made a big log boat one year, and it did not work out at all. We keep seeing long and thin boats or short and wide boats. We will probably have to pick one of those designs.”
Teams have also learned to use good cardboard.
“A lot of teams have really good cardboard this year,” Bradstreet said. “A lot of teams are going to build good boats. We have to make sure to be on our game and build a pretty good boat as well.”
As for who will win, Marko and Bradstreet say Team Three.
“We have a lot of experience,” he said. “We have been on teams who have won things before. I won the whole thing last year. I hope to win it again. My boats were pretty good. I have won presentation, as well. We know what it takes to win.”
“I won cash crusaders my first year,”said Marko.
Sielinski shared Team One will be victorious and win the RUSH Cup.

“We are going to win because we have a very diverse group of sponsorships,” she said. “I think we will be able to fund raise really effectively. Also, we have the strongest people on the team so we will be the fastest boat.”
The three invite the community to come out on Saturday, July 8 to watch the RUSH Regatta. The boat parade begins at 12 p.m. and the races start shortly after the parade.
“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” said Marko. “You are going to see boats fall apart. It’s a good opportunity to see what we do and it’s a good day to be on the beach and have something to watch.”
“It’s always fun,” Sielinski added. “Having high hopes you do see some people actually make it, but most of the fun is seeing some sink. It’s always a very fun day. It’s not too long just a couple hours to watch kids sink.”

  Rush Regatta, Team RUSH 27