High School Bridge Builders Crush Competition

05 Apr 2018

The fourth annual High School Bridge Building Competition was a huge success. Teams of future engineers from Vermont high schools spent weeks (or even months) designing and building bridges out of popsicle sticks, dental floss, and Elmer’s craft glue. The bridges and their builders are judged on bridge weight, aesthetics, structural efficiency, presentation & team spirit, and actual load supported by the bridge. Load is tested on the Gordonator, a portable hydraulic press created by students, and named for Professor Gordon Reynolds of the civil program.

The overall winning teams and the winners of each category are listed below.

1st place and recipients of $2,000 scholarships to Vermont Tech

Team #2 from Arlington High Memorial High School

2nd place and recipients of $1,500 scholarships to Vermont Tech

Team #3 from Arlington Memorial High School

3rd place and recipients of $1,000 scholarships to Vermont Tech *tie*

Team #12 from Green Mountain Technology Center

Team #28 from Proctor High School

 

Aesthetics & Originality of Design

Team #39 from Vergennes Union High School

Presentation & Team Spirit *tie*

Team #36 St. Johnsbury Academy

Team #39 Vergennes Union High School

Lowest Error in Predicted Load

Team #37 Stafford Technical Center – Predicted 7 lbs & broke at 6.8 lbs

Structural Efficiency

Team #2 Arlington Memorial High School – Load/bridge weight

Lowest Weight of Bridge

Team #30 Randolph Union High School – 1.3 lbs.

Actual Load in Competition

Team #36 St. Johnsbury Academy -1,646 lbs. sets the new record high for this competition.

Team #2 Arlington Memorial High School – 929 lbs.

Team #39 Vergennes Union High School – 635 lbs.

If you didn’t make it to the high school competition, you can see the middle school event on April 12th at 9 AM  in the Judd Gymnasium.