WEST MIAMI-DADE, FLA. (WSVN) - A signature event at Florida International University had students walking on water, and this year, one team did it better than ever.
Students made the impossible possible with unique water shoes, and some of them took home some cash for their efforts in the FIU Department of Architecture’s 30th annual Walk on Water race, Thursday.
Teams of students designed and built water shoes to allow them to walk across the 175-foot lake on the Modesto Maidique Campus in West Miami-Dade. This year, nearly 70 students participated in the event.
Team Palm from Palm Beach State College with a time of 57 seconds, beating the previous record by four seconds.
“It feels great. It feels great. I was not expecting this,” said Arman, who won. “I was just shooting for the win, and I ended up having the record, too. Feels good.”
Dharmesh Patel, the team’s advisor and professor at their school, said they have been working on it for months.
“Dedication. They’ve been practicing non-stop,” said Patel. “They’ve been really dedicated. ‘Rocky’ music, everything.”
“Team Sushi over there having a great time,” said the announcer.
Jaime Canaves, the FIU professor who created the event 30 years ago, it’s just as exciting now as it was then.
“It gets better every year, so it’s exciting now,” she said.
Exciting and impressive in terms of how far the students have come, and how quickly some manage to get across.
“It started as a class assignment, but again, I try in my classes every year to make it better and to try to improve it, and we’re still doing it,” said Canaves.
Team Palm scored $2,000 in prize money — $1,000 for winning and a bonus $1,000 for breaking the record, but for the students, the prize money is icing on the cake.
“I wasn’t even thinking about it,” said Arman. “Now, I’m remembering that, and I’m even happier.”
The top team from FIU also went home with $1,000.
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