FUI students design shoes to walk on water

MIAMI (AP) — Students from Florida International University are walking on water — wearing water shoes they built — as part of a class assignment.

The students had to make it to the other side of a 175-foot lake on campus Thursday while wearing the aquatic shoes in order to get an "A'' on the assignment. Alex Quinones was the first to do so in just over a minute, earning him $500 and major bragging rights.

A total of 79 students competed in the race that began in 1989.

Architecture professor Jaime Canaves describes the assignment as a lesson in not only architecture, but also in life. He says he wants to show his students that as long as they research and test their work, anything is possible — even "walking on water."