LW East Students Finish Top 4 At Regional Bridge Building Contest

FRANKFORT, IL — Four Lincoln-Way East students finished in first, second, third and fourth at the Regional Bridge Building contest on Feb. 12 at the Illinois Institute of Technology. The school said Lincoln-Way 210 had eight of the top 10 spots, with Julian Bendy finishing first, Bryce Wyma finishing second, Melissa Bauer taking third and Mark Zyskowski taking fourth.

According to the school, there were about 80 bridges from more than 30 schools entered in the contest. There were three regions to the competitions: south suburbs, north suburbs and the city of Chicago.

Bendy's bridge won the contest with an efficiency of 2920. His bridge had a mass around 14 grams (about the mass of 3 nickels) and held 42 kg (about 92 pounds). The equation for efficiency is the mass held divided by the mass of the bridge, so Bendy's bridge held 2920 times its own mass. The school said Bendy also had the highest efficiency in all three regions, winning the Garcher Trophy.

“It is great to see the students work on projects outside of the classroom andrelate them to topics learned in the classroom,” Lincoln-Way East science teacher Mike Murphy said in a release. “It was obvious from their designs and results, that these studentsdevoted a lot of hard work and time into this project.”

The school said Bendy and Wyma now are eligible to represent Lincoln-Way East at the
International Bridge Building Contest held in Baltimore, Maryland on April 6.

Photos provided by Lincoln-Way 210.