Under Pressure Students’ Model Bridges Bear Up

Sun., March 1, 1998

Virginia De Leon Staff writer

The bridges weigh less than a letter in the mail, but some support up to 100 pounds.

Many are arched, others are straight, a few look like the Golden Gate.

But all are hand-made from glued pieces of balsa wood - sliced and sanded to the size of toothpicks.

And all were put to the test Saturday at the eighth annual Model Bridge Building Contest.

More than 200 teenagers from the Inland Northwest gathered at Gonzaga University to compare their construction skills. Each brought a bridge to be tested for its efficiency - how much weight it could support.

“It’s kind of cool to design something and make it work,” said Tomara Jones, a senior at Chewelah’s Jenkins High School and one of the few girls at the event.

Many came just to watch sticks fly.

Each bridge was connected by a rod to a loading plate, which got heavier as students slowly added flat metal pieces. When the load became too heavy, the bridge crunched in half, springing pieces into the air.

But before they fall apart, some carry loads at least 50 times their weight.

Bryan Crum’s bridge, for example, weighed 24.6 grams, but it supported more than 1,700 grams. Building the span took three weeks.

“It’s something I like to do,” said the Shadle Park High School junior.

Building bridges takes a lot of time and dedication, said Howard Pettibone, a member of the Washington Society of Professional Engineers, the event’s sponsor.

Pettibone, 66, and his friend, 74-year-old Harry Hengron, made sure each bridge met the regulations. In a separate room, they weighed and measured each piece. They used a pingpong ball to make sure the bridge’s roadbed was clear.

“Words don’t do them justice,” Pettibone said. “Amazing comes to mind. Some kids would say ‘awesome.”’ Many students enter the contest for prize money.

Some contestants have won $100 for predicting how much weight their bridge will hold. A few have gone on to state and national competitions, sometimes even winning scholarships to prestigious engineering schools.

But for most kids, building bridges is just a way to be creative.

“What makes people become engineers?” asked Pettibone. “Why do people build things? … You have created something out of your mind. There’s beauty there.”

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