“I’ve grown more, maturely,” he notes. “A lot of kids are growing up more when working on this project.”
Those kids include the club’s crew of 10 students, according to CCHS industrial tech instructor Tom Schmidt, and all of them are under Good’s supervision. Following the success of last year’s hovercraft project, which culminated in third and fourth place wins at the Hover Club of America’s annual race on Lazy L Lake at Terre Haute last year, Good says students interested in working on this year’s project had to fill out an application.
“We picked the kids that were most motivated and reliable,” he says, with Schmidt noting about 50 percent of applicants had to be turned down.
“Some of them just wanted to come down and mess around,” observes Master.
Widespread student interest is understandable. As reported prior, CCHS is one of very few schools in the state to take on such an unusual project, and its success — in terms of race results but also in the students’ ability to construct a working, water-ready racing craft — was contagious.
“The learning part was also finding the right people to put with the right job,” Schmidt adds, something student leaders like Good, Cooper, and Master learned from as well. “There’s a lot of trust and leadership going into this, and responsibility they don’t normally have. It has created some conflict resolution skills for us!”
Of course, such personal skills go hand in hand with the sheer thrill of constructing the craft, something Good says couldn’t have happened without generous supporters in the surrounding community.
“We’ve been working pretty hard,” notes Good, “and we thought this was a good time to tell our sponsors how much we’ve accomplished in a short time, the workforce we’ve built up, and the buzz around the school. We can’t go a day without somebody talking about the hovercraft!”
The students opted to up the ante and construct a multi-seat craft (the first one was a single-seater) and, in Good’s words, to make it “bigger and badder, with more power.”
Using plans from an online source, Schmidt and the students found it necessary to tweak the printed designs to suit the materials they had on hand, all the result of sponsor donations. Sponsorships have increased this year, but, “as with all projects like this, we’re always a dollar short,” notes Schmidt. “We could use some more support.”
Project benefits Relay
The club, which sponsored a team at last year’s first annual Culver Relay for Life, plans to jump into the Relay effort with both feet this time around. “Max’s goal is to try to get the hovercraft done in time for Relay, if possible,” Schmidt explains, “and use that as a fundraiser.”
The hope is to offer “rides” on the hovercraft, probably as a fundraiser leading up to the Relay, but also potentially at the event itself, if Relay organizers approve.
The IT club is also supporting Relay by selling plaques, including a more general, purple design for $10 and “memorial” plaques for $20, personalized with cancer survivors’ or victims’ initials with the option of “color coding” to reflect particulars such as pink for breast cancer.

These plaques, explain the students, are available through the school care of Tom Schmidt or by calling 574-842-3391.
The club also hopes to get the craft out on Lake Maxinkuckee this year, something they weren’t able to accomplish with the first craft. “I hope it creates a lot of talk around the community and people see it around the lake.”
If so, Good believes this would be the first such craft on Maxinkuckee, at least since the late 1970s, when he says his mother recalls a lake resident running a similar vehicle in those pre-hovercraft days.
And, of course, the plan is to race the new, improved craft in the annual Hover Club event again this spring. Schmidt notes the new craft won’t limit the race to just one driver, but will allow several students to “pass the baton” and race. And, adds Cooper, the improved size and power of the new vehicle means the driver no longer has to be the lightest member of the team. Thanks to Cooper’s efforts at finding a sticker manufacturer, the CCHS craft will race adorned with sponsor names on its body (Good points out the club also makes its own plaques to thank sponsors).

‘It’s like watching a family of kids develop’
One of the challenges for Good and all the participants has been the need to work in shifts due to class schedules, with individuals sometimes unable to communicate directly with each other as work on the craft progresses. “It’s been hard to communicate that way,” Good admits. “But we’ve been very persistent and pushed through our communication problems. It’s like watching a family of kids develop. I’ve made friends with kids I never would have talked to before.”
Those friends include two female students, a new factor in the club. “There’s something about girls being able to stay more focused than guys,” Good smiles. “They’re doing a lot of detail work…they do better than some of the guys I’ve got working with them out there.”
“Some?” adds Schmidt with a laugh. “How about all!”
“We’ve got a great, strong group of kids,” Good notes, explaining Cooper and Master will likely replace him in a supervisory role next year, with hopes that the hovercraft project will be ongoing year after year. “We’re a small club trying to do big things,” he adds.
Building a “bigger” hovercraft is obviously one of those “big things,” but Good and the club are also, in the process, building something likely to stay with them for years to come…maybe even a lifetime.