At the annual Lincoln-Way East bridge contest, there were 163 entries. 69 entries were from students in physics classes, 61 from engineering physics classes, 27 from chemistry classes, 1 from biology classes, and 5 from teachers.
The winner was Jacob Werner, with a bridge mass of 10.2 grams (about the mass of 2 nickels) that held 32.62 kg (around 71 pounds). The winning bridge is determined by efficiency (equation for efficiency is the mass held divided by the mass of the bridge). Jacob's efficiency was 3198, meaning that the bridge held 3198 times its own mass.
The 2nd-4th places are as follows:
- Anthony Mazziotta (3058 efficiency)
- Madelyn Meseck (3009 efficiency)
- Robert Mensching (2842 efficiency).
All four of the students above are entitled to represent LWE at the regional contest held at IIT (Illinois Institute of Technology) on February 6th , 2024.
"I was very impressed with the quality of the bridges and the number of bridges entered into the competition. This has been a great tradition at LWE and the students did a great job in participation and effort. It is great to see the students work on projects outside of the classroom that relate to topics learned in the classroom," said Michael Murphy, science teacher and contest coordinator at East. "It was obvious from their designs and results that many students devoted a lot of hard work and time into this project. I think the most rewarding part of this project is to hear the students talk the next day about what they could do differently next year to increase the efficiency of their bridges. It seems that this project sparks the creativity of a lot of students and fosters hard work and creativity."
The teachers involved in the bridge contest were Michael Murphy, Wes Cooley, Maria Wilson, Dawn McAvoy, Jaime Voliva, Beth Swaney, Shane Tucker, Carlie Premo, April Richter, Ryan Lodes, Breanna Bembenek, Nicole Cashen and Nick Schwieger.
