CLARKSVILLE, Tenn. (CLARKSVILLENOW) – The mentors at APSU Governor’s School of Computational Physics floated an idea – use duct tape and PVC pipe to build a boat that could carry two people across a pool.

Lili Swann and Ward Jaeger accepted the challenge and succeeded. But the boat was leaky, and they wanted to do better.

They built up the sides and shored up the rest, all while keeping with just duct tape, PVC pipe and some boards. And they named the vessel – “Phinabella.” Merrol Hyde Magnet School senior Gracie Gumm discusses the boat with Signal Mountain Middle/High School senior Lili Swann.

Then Swann, a senior at Signal Mountain Middle/High School near Chattanooga, Gracie Gumm, a senior at Merrol Hyde Magnet School in Hendersonville, and Kate Sanborn, a senior at Franklin High School, dropped the boat in the pool.

So why did Swann and Jaeger name the boat after Disney’s “Phineas and Ferb,” an animated show that follows the summer creative and inventive hijinks of two stepbrothers?

“It seemed like the right choice,” Swann said.

Learn more about APSU Governor’s School of Computational Physics at www.apsu.edu/governors-school/. Signal Mountain Middle/High School’s Lili Swann captures a photo of Merrol Hyde Magnet School’s Gracie Gumm paddling the duct tape boat at APSU’s recreational pool.

Chris Smith is editor-in-chief of ClarksvilleNow.com. Reach him by email at csmith@clarksvillenow.com or call 931-648-7720.