High school students in Vernon needed only pasta and glue to put their engineering skills on full display.
Vernon Christian School held its third annual spaghetti bridge building contest on March 17, with more than 70 students in grades 8 and 9 taking part.
“The objective of this competition is to build the lightest open span arch or truss bridge that will support a mass of 1.0 kg. The bridge is to be constructed using spaghetti and hot glue while meeting the specifications stated in the contest rules,” said teacher Jordan Sevenhuysen, who organizes the contest annually.
Teams had just two hours to construct their spaghetti bridge, after which came the moment of truth: a stress test conducted by hanging the official mass of 1 kg on the bridge deck for 60 seconds. The team whose bridge passed the stress test, followed the contest rules and had the smallest bridge mass was declared the winner.
The goal is to promote creative and critical thinking skills while taking part in a valuable team-building exercise.
This year’s event was sponsored by local engineering firm Westwood Engineering. Eric Crum, a partner at the firm, was in attendance to congratulate the winning team: a trio of Grade 8 students named Jacob, Nik and Thomas.
Vernon Christian School is a pre-school to Grade 12 program. For more information, visit vcs.ca.
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