Lincoln-Way West Students Building Bridges to Success

From Lincoln-Way High School District:

Lincoln-Way West’s fifth annual Bridge Building Contest and Engineering Career Expo was a “smashing success.”

First place went to Alan Burggren whose bridge achieved an efficiency of 3399. Last year Alan also placed first at the local level and placed at the Regional Bridge Competition at the Illinois Institute of Technology for the second year.

“This is my last year. I was very nervous," Alan said. "This year I entered two bridges, built the same way but with different glues. The first bridge was better. This was the best I have done all year, I felt really good about the strength of the bridge."

Alan, a senior, is in the engineering physics class taught by Chester Szmurlo and Jason Visny.

Alan has entered the bridge building contest all four years at Lincoln-Way West.

Patrick O’Sullivan earned second place with an efficiency of 2103, third place was earned by Billy Matthews with an efficiency of 2014, and fourth place went to Brandon Voss with an efficiency of 1788.

“This group of students definitely set the bar higher this year," said Szmurlo, who chairs the bridge building contest. All four students will advance to the Regional Bridge Building Competition at the Illinois Institute of Technology."

The date for the regional contest has not been set. The regional competition has three divisions: North Suburban, South Suburban, and Chicago.

“West had 99 student bridges qualify this year, over 110 student bridges that were built," Principal Monica Schmitt said. "Well over 250 students attended to watch and used the Career Expo as an opportunity to explore engineering and construction careers.”

Deven Bax, a junior, said she really enjoyed the project. She said this was her first year entering the contest and that she enjoyed the challenge of building the bridge.

“It took me two weeks to build the bridge, but I enjoyed that part. It’s exciting being at the contest. I will enter again next year,” Beven said.

Lisa Pohlman-Zordan entered this year for the first time also. She is a member of the engineering physics class and enjoyed the project.

“I did better than I expected, and better than my practice bridge. That makes me happy,” Lisa said.

Each student that participates receives a packet of balsa wood sticks to design and make a bridge. The bridge must weigh less than 30 grams and be at least 30 centimeters long but no more than 25 centimeters high or eight centimeters wide.

Each bridge is tested by a science teacher for weight, mass and efficiency as the students are checked into the contest.

“The objective of the bridge contest isn’t to build the lightest bridge or hold the most load," Szmurlo said. "Students are competing to build the most efficient bridge. Judges compare bridge efficiency by dividing the load that the bridge sustains by the mass of the bridge structure itself. This means that if two bridges are able to support the same load, the bridge which used the least amount of wood would win because it would have a greater efficiency."

“The contest uses a ratio of the mass the bridge holds compared to the mass of the bridge (efficiency) to determine the winner," said Gary Henderson, the chairman of the science department. "Most bridges are trusses. A structural truss is a load supported member made entirely of a pattern of triangles, since the triangle is the most rigid shape. Trusses are found in many bridges, buildings, communication towers and platforms. Trusses are able to support a great deal of load without using much material. This makes them very efficient.

“Every student at West is invited to participate, not just the physics students,” Henderson said.

Information was available on careers in engineering with representatives from area companies and the Village of New Lenox.

Two students from each division advance to the International Bridge Competition on a date and location not yet determined. In West’s first year Allison Rocha advanced to the international competition, and in the 2010 school year Alex Studnicka advanced to the international competition and placed third.

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