'I like the challenge': Dover students prep for International Bridge Building Competition

TUSCARAWAS COUNTY – Two Dover High School students are preparing to get a taste for what it means to be a civil engineer during competition in this year's 46th annual International Bridge Building Competition at Kent State University Tuscarawas Saturday.

“The construction and testing of model bridges promotes the study and application of fundamental principles (of) physics and helps high school students develop hands-on skills through bridge construction,” according to a statement published on the website for the recent regional competition held in Chicago, hosted by the Illinois Institute of Technology. That is where DHS senior Brady Miller placed first, and junior Trinity Dreher placed second.

Interest in engineering for Trinity began last year while taking Project Lead The Way classes, which provide high school level students with an introduction to engineering.

“It’s a nationwide pre-engineering curriculum with classes equivalent to an associate level college class. So, they get to figure out in high school whether they like it or not,” said Carl Conrad, who teaches several classes at Dover High School including engineering. Students who complete the coursework receive 12 college-level credits.

Introduction to engineering and design started as a requirement, “basically to get a grade,” said Trinity. “But, for me it got more interesting because I like the challenge of having to come up with a design – something that’s optimal and uses the proper amount of materials and just making sure that all the elements just intertwine together.”

She will be submitting two bridges in the competition, both Warren truss bridge designs with slight variations, constructed out of basswood.

“There’s tons of these,” Trinity said, referring to the Warren truss design.

“Simple is best. The fewer joints you have, the less chance of failure. A lot of the process is figuring out how strong parts need to be, where members need to be doubled or tripled, or something like that, so that they don’t fail,” Conrad said.

As for Brady, his interest in bridge building stretches back a bit further.

“I’ve always been interested in engineering in general, and as such have participated in the PLTW program at Dover since middle school,” he said. “I really got into bridges freshmen year, the first year that you can do the competition. I was immediately hooked on the problem solving and design aspects of the challenge and enjoyed the hands-on building,” he said.

How do you win?

“Basically, I think the best way is to have a good design and construct it well,” said Trinity. “The design is the most important thing – making sure you optimize angles and lengths of members. It really does matter – doubling or tripling up parts where the load is applied. It is just a combination of good design and good construction.”

Brady’s approach is a “complete obsessive attention to detail in (the) final build,” he remarked. “That’s really what it comes to. I need to spend time and make this model as near to perfect as I can physically get it, to have a chance. I’m confident in what I’ve learned over the last four years doing this competition, including a trip to internationals sophomore year. I just need to be meticulous and apply all the things I’ve learned in the most efficient way possible. It's going to be a complete test of my technical abilities, and I’m ready go for it.”

Officially, the bridges are placed into an elaborate load tester, where a loading plate is placed above, and the load applied from below through a threaded rod. The bridge with the highest structural efficiency is declared the winner. A short video from this year’s regional competition can be viewed at www.bridgecontest.phys.iit.edu/.

Winning does not carry much official clout within the civil engineering community, but prizes do vary dependent upon potential donations, such as laptops as in prior years. However, according to Paul Dykshroon, academic program director of engineering Technology at Kent State University at Tuscarawas, “winners of the International Bridge building competition show themselves to be astute designers and such an honor can certainly be useful in college applications and resumes in general.”

Brady’s opinion about winning hits a little closer to home.

“I think it would mean a lot to Dover, specifically to the engineering program and our teacher Mr. Conrad,” he said. I don’t think it would at all hurt to have on a resume for engineering in the future.”

He will be attending Cedarville University in Cedarville, to major in civil engineering and minor in music.

For more information about the competition

The competition is open to the public and free to the IBBC student participants. If others want to attend the awards ceremony with lunch, tickets must be purchased online and in advance kentstate.evenue.net

The competition can be found online at: www.kent.edu/tusc/international-bridge-competition

To read the complete technical rules, go to: bridgecontest.phys.iit.edu/public/international/2024/international_rules

T-R staff photographer Andrew Dolph can be reached by phone at 330-289-6072, or by email at adolph3@gannett.com. You can also find him on Instagram @dolphphoto.

This article originally appeared on The Times-Reporter: Dover students prepare for International Bridge Building Competition