(Left to Right) Freshmen Quinn Graehling and Nikolas Theofylaktos test their spaghetti bridge while engineers Joe Reitz and Jack Gaydar look on.
By Mark Christ February 24, 2012
Fifty-four students enrolled in Avon Lake High School’s Industrial Arts & Education Curriculum were challenged to see who could build the best “Spaghetti Bridges.” The contest was sponsored by the National Society of Professional Engineers to celebrate National Engineers Week.
Students had three days to plan, build, and test their bridges. To win, each crew had to build a bridge that would support the most weight, while adhering to building codes. Materials were thin spaghetti for bridge structures and Elmer’s School Glue for spot welding the strands together, All bridges had to be 3” tall, cover a span of 12”, and not weigh more than 150g. At test time, the crew added weights to the bridge. The bridge had to hold each weight for 5 seconds for the trial to count. The best bridge weight to weight supported won the prize for each trial.
Senior Michael Foley won 1st period competition. Mike plans to pursue a career in Aerospace Engineering at Rice University this fall.
Weighing in and winning were seniors Michael Foley, Cole VanMeter and Julia Vasu; juniors Alexander Davis and Maggie Kundtz; sophomores Stonewal Votruba and Tim Schleicher; and freshmen Alex Thieken, Ethan Bueck and Dylan Jensen. Winners received Camp Chairs and T-Shirts, compliments of “Al the Alligator.”
Judges were City Engineering Manager Joe Reitz, Avon Lake Municipal Utilities Engineering Services Manager Jack Gaydar, and Avon Lake High School Industrial Arts Teacher Justin Lestock.
Seventy-one freshmen through senior year students are enrolled in the industrial arts and engineering curriculum which offers classes in Pre-Engineering, Information Technology, Manufacturing Technology, and (CAD) Engineering Drawing, Consumer Automotive, Electricity, Machine Woods, and Home Maintenance.
Industrial Arts Teacher Justin Lestock calculates that about twenty of his students are planning to pursue careers in either computer, mechanical, biomedical, architectural aerospace, and combat engineering.
 Senior Cole VanMeter and freshman Dylan Jensen won 3rd period competition. Cole is planning to enter the armed forces upon graduation. |
 Sophomores Tim Schleicher and Stonewall Votruba won the 4th period competition. |
 Freshmen Ethan Bueck and Alex Thieken won 2nd period competition. |
 Senior Julia Vasu won the 5th period competition. Julia plans to pursue a career in Mechanical Engineering Technology at Dayton University this fall. |
 Juniors Maggie Kundtz and Alexander Davis won the 6th period competition. Maggie plans to pursue an army career in combat engineering and Alex a career in engineering at LCCC upon graduation. |
 Industrial Arts Teacher Justin Lestock earned bragging rights by testing his spaghetti bridge to the limit. |