Future engineers achieve success during the 2018 Colorado High School Bridge Building Competition

Written by: Emily Quinn

A student prepares to test her bridge using the small-scale press in the Technical Service Center's lab.The 51st Annual Colorado High School Bridge Building Contest was a great success at the Bureau of Reclamation's laboratory on the Denver Federal Center!

Testing of the bridges is always exciting. As the bridges break, students wait in anticipation to learn the efficiency of their model. Wood cracking can be heard, and flying pieces of the small bridges can be seen throughout the event.

The construction and testing of model bridges promotes the study and application of fundamental principles of physics and also helps high school students develop "hands on" skills through bridge construction.

By participating in the Bridge Building Competition, students learn a bit about what it is like to be an Engineer; designing structures to a set of specifications and then seeing those model bridges perform their functions.

Two separate regions participate in the bridge contest, and the top three students from each, whose bridges have the highest rate of efficiency, are declared the winners.

2018 Region 1 winners:

Andre Stablein from Front Range Christian High School, with an efficiency rate of 3,592.04, and a maximum load of 49,462.33.

Michael Schindewolf from Front Range Christian High School, with an efficiency of 2,830.04, and a maximum load of 88,891.43.

Jacob Tudan from Cherry Creek High School, with an efficiency rate of 2,354.22, and a maximum load of 109,353.4.

2018 Region 2 winners:

Nathaniel Westlake from Rampart High School, with an efficiency rate of 2,927.7, and a maximum load of 75,855.8.

Sarah Chancellor from Rampart High School, with an efficiency rate of 1,356, and a maximum load of 36,719.7.

Isaac Likins from Rampart High School, with an efficiency rate of 1,332, and a maximum load of 32,203.44.

Andre Stablein and Nathaniel Westlake qualified for the International Bridge Building Competition taking place in Chicago this April.

The top 3 schools from Region 1 were:

Front Range Christian Cherry Creek High School STEM School Highlands Ranch

The top 3 schools for Region 2 were:

Rampart High School Doherty High School Manzanola High School

Congratulations to all of this year’s winners, and we will look forward to next year’s bridge building contest!

To view photos from this event, visit: https://www.flickr.com/gp/usbr/907M9D.

Learn more about the Colorado High School Bridge Building Competition here: http://nspe-co.org/events_bridge_building.php.

A student tests his bridge using a small-scale press at the TSC.

Published on March 01, 2018