With a production of Dracula behind them, members of the theater honor society Alpha Psi Omega are preparing for the annual cardboard boat race.

“This boat may be 20 feet long,” Ben Ashton, technical theater senior, said.

Last year was APO’s first time participating in homecoming events in nearly five years. With this being the case, the organization had a late start to get prepared for such events like the boat race, beginning to build their boat just a few days prior to the actual event.

“This year we want to be more prepared since we know what we’re doing,” Shae Dorsman-Murphy, technical theater senior, said.

This year, to help with involvement, the organization is offering community service hours for duct tape donations. The boat race competition requires that the boats be made of only cardboard and duct tape. The organization will be offering 30 minutes of community service for every two rolls donated, up to four hours total.

“It can get expensive and time consuming, so we need some to donate and some to build,” Ashton said.

According to Ashton, the plan is to build a boat large enough to accommodate four people, in hopes of maximizing rowing power.  This is another reason for APO to request its members donate duct tape.

“We used maybe 15 rolls last year and that boat was half the size of this boat,” Ashton said.

Last year’s race ended with APO President Shae Dorsman-Murphy, and Secretary Nicole Smalls, theater junior, getting across the lake and back, sinking along the process.

Although it was APO’s first time competing in years, the organization still ended the week in fourth place. This was because of their 77 pounds of canned food donations as well as a second place finish in the lip sync competition.