ROCKFORD, Ill. (WTVO) — Rockford high school students squared off in an annual competition on Wednesday.

It was the “Cardboard Canoe Races” on Levings Lake.

RPS Production Academy’s engineering pathway students designed, engineered and built a canoe out of cardboard and duct tape. They got to show off their final product to the community on Wednesday.

The students were judged on presentation and design of their boats. There was also a battle to see whose boat could stay above water the longest.

Katie Dao, a judge for the competition and junior at Guilford High School, hoped that everyone had fun with the project no matter who won.

“I really hope to see that they have fun, because it’s just fun to be out here with other schools and putting in, this is multiple weeks long project, putting all their hard work to see it, to test here,” Dao said. “I’m really excited to see that and I really hope that they just have fun, that they learn something from this, because next year you have more projects to work on that are similar to this.”

Almost 200 kids from five different Rockford high schools took part in the competition.