On May 10, students from across the globe competed to attain the coveted title: the world’s best student bridge-builder. Digital media sophomore Nina Marchell was one of the competitors and entered a bridge she created out of basswood and adhesive into the International Bridge Competition held at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago.
“By competing in the South Florida Bridge Competition and winning, I was able to go to the international competition [in Chicago],” Marchell said.
Students interested in being entered in the International Competition had to win their regional competitions in order to progress. The goal was to have the bridges be a smaller version of real, usable bridges seen throughout the world that are made to allow trains, vehicles and people cross. Competitors from as far as Hawaii, New York and Indonesia all flew in to Chicago to test their bridge’s abilities.
“The bridge competition was a contest to see who could build the most efficient [and] lightest bridge that held the most weight. They did limit the [bridge’s] weight to 25 grams so the focus really was on making a bridge that was light yet strong,” said Marchell.
The bridges were tested by placing each end on two support surfaces. Weights were tied to and dangled from the center of the bridge until its infrastructure caved in. Out of 52 who placed, Marchell received second. Her bridge was able to hold over 5000 times its own weight. She won a certificate, trophy and $250 gift card.
“It was a little stressful placing the weights below my bridge to see how much it would hold, knowing that any minute the whole thing would collapse and maybe right on me,” Marchell said. “It ended up holding 55 kilograms and weighed 10.73 grams which was good enough for second place.”