Lincoln-Way East Excels at Building Bridges

From Lincoln-Way High School District:

Lincoln-Way East High School’s Bridge Building Contest was a “smashing success” according to sophomore Bailey Leavy.

This was Bailey’s first year to enter the school-wide physics engineering contest.

“It was really fun," Bailey said. "It was a good opportunity to design a bridge and see how it works. I will definitely enter again next year.”

This year first place went to Nick Ferracuti whose bridge achieved an efficiency of 2060. Nick is in Ryan Lodes’ honors physics class.

Second place went to Grant Whitman whose bridge achieved an efficiency of 1916. Grant is in Todd Drumheller’s engineering physics class.

Ben Walczak earned third place with his bridge achieving an efficiency of 1892. Ben is in Drumheller’s honors physics class.

Fourth place was earned by Joe Rajca with his bridge achieving an efficiency of 1855. Joe is also enrolled in Drumheller’s engineering physics class.

“All four students will be representing Lincoln-Way East at the Illinois Institute of Technology Bridge Competition," Lodes said. "This year’s contest will be on Tuesday, January 21, 2014 in the Herman Hall Auditorium with check-in starting at 4:00 p.m.”

The regional competition has three divisions, North Suburban, South Suburban, and Chicago.

“East High School had a record 185 participants this year," said Principal Sharon Michalak. "The building administrators joined in the competition. Our bridge was ranked 69th, that speaks well for our students’ talent and hard work. I congratulate all our participants for their effort and creativity bringing a high level of competitive bridges to the contest.”

Junior Caitlin Nelson 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.

“I enjoyed making the bridge," she said. "It was pretty stressful with the competition, but really fun. I will enter again next year."

Natalie Gevaudan is a junior enrolled in honors physics. She entered this year for the first time also.

“It’s hard, but I liked building the bridge. I will enter again next year,” she said.

Each participating student receives a packet of balsa wood sticks with which to design and make a bridge. The bridge must weigh less than 30 grams, be at least 30 centimeters long but no more than 25 centimeters high or 8 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, Drumheller 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,” he said.

“Every year the teachers involved in the bridge contest are humbled by all the students’ hard work and creative design solutions,” Drumheller said.

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