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Bridge or Bust for high school engineers at Purdue contest

Purdue’s 33rd annual Bridge Bust contest for high school students attracted roughly 200 participants.

The bridges made from balsa wood and glue were judged on efficiency, aesthetics, and “structural concepts.” Sand-filled buckets were hung from the bridges to test their load-bearing capacity.

Defending efficiency champion Grant Shortridge from Vermillion High School thinks his current bridge is an improvement from the previous model.

"I took my broken bridge home and I reconstructed it and found out where my problems were and then I redesigned it [to] where I wouldn't have those problems again."

Troy Wireman and Ty Conley teamed up to represent West Central High School in the contest. Conley says their project started from a rough idea.

"First we looked it up online. We looked up strongest... structure and we found one called the Pennsylvania Truss. And so we kind of just went off that one and added our own little things."

Purdue’s American Society of Civil Engineers chapter sponsored the event.

Civil Engineering professor Michael Kreger says the competition gives students hands-on experience.

"A lot of kids that are high school age today, compared with when I was growing up, they don't have as much exposure maybe to building things like this. So it's perhaps one of the first times that they have to worry about actual craftsmanship. It's maybe the first time they've ever actually built anything."

He says participants gain an attention to detail and cooperation skills, which are important for studying civil engineering. Kreger hopes the contest will get students thinking about careers in the field.