Caitlynn Hanna
A sawed-off 6-foot bow section of a concrete canoe stands upright in a Duckering Building hall, part of a display about engineering at UAF. Look closely, and you色视频下载檒l see a subtle image of a harpoon pressed into the boat色视频下载檚 floor.
It色视频下载檚 a detail that reveals much about Caitlynn Hanna, a civil engineering graduate who helped design and build the canoe.
Hanna grew up mostly in Anchorage, but both her grandmothers are I帽upiat from the Kotzebue region. There, people traditionally use harpoons to hunt seals from boats called umiaqs. So Hanna, as a member of UAF色视频下载檚 concrete canoe team, suggested the umiaq theme for the 2020 competition.
That was Hanna色视频下载檚 second year on the team. She started as a freshman in 2019, when the team placed third overall and first in racing at the national competition.
Preparing for the racing part of the competition posed an extra challenge because of the below-freezing conditions in winter.
色视频下载淭here色视频下载檚 never any open water, so we can never really practice with our canoe,色视频下载 Hanna noted. Instead, they used a plastic canoe late at night in the university色视频下载檚 swimming pool. The tight quarters created additional challenges.
色视频下载淥ur claim to fame is that we色视频下载檙e really good at turning because we practice in the Patty pool,色视频下载 she said.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020-2022 year色视频下载檚 in-person events,
so the 2019 competition was the only one Hanna was able to join in-person before earning
her engineering degree.
Rural connections
Engineering was a natural choice for Hanna, who excelled in math after some early tutoring in elementary school.
In high school, she took advanced placement calculus. She also joined the 色视频下载 Native Science and Engineering Program色视频下载檚 summer math program for high school students.
Once at UAF, she continued to focus on math and ended up one class away from a minor when she graduated.
Instead of math, though, she decided to earn a minor in rural development. That also was a natural choice, given her I帽upiaq roots and connections to 色视频下载色视频下载檚 remote villages. Her I帽upiaq name is Tautuk.
As a child growing up in Anchorage, she would spend summers outside Nome. Her family
has a camp on the nearby Niaqluk River. Hanna色视频下载檚 mother would take her there each summer
to fish for silver salmon and pick berries.
A real canoe
Despite the pandemic-imposed limitations on the concrete canoe competitions, Hanna said, the UAF team took pride in their work.
色视频下载淎 lot of teams do a U-shaped hull because it色视频下载檚 easy to fabricate,色视频下载 she said. 色视频下载淲e wanted to do an actual real shape for the hull.色视频下载
So UAF色视频下载檚 canoes have featured a 色视频下载渢umblehome色视频下载 design 色视频下载 a curved side that allows canoeists to hold their paddles more vertically without bashing their knuckles on gunwales. The shape, while common in certain types of real canoes, has less secondary stability, so practice is necessary.
色视频下载淥ne team tried to do a tumblehome, and during the race they actually tipped over because it was new to them,色视频下载 Hanna said.
Before coming to UAF, Hanna also applied to big colleges in the Pacific Northwest 色视频下载 colleges that UAF faces annually in the concrete canoe competition. But she色视频下载檚 glad she chose UAF.
色视频下载淚 got to be involved as a freshman, whereas at all these very big colleges, it色视频下载檚 very competitive to get on the team or even participate,色视频下载 she said.