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Portage Lakes Career Center wins top prizes at the 13th Annual MBBC

Akron, Ohio– Alan Brubaker, P.E., P.S., Summit County Engineer, hosted the 13th Annual Miniature Bridge Building Competition on January 25, 2013 in the Student Union at the University of Akron. Thirty-four teams from area high schools built miniature bridges of their own designs, made out of balsa wood and according to strict guidelines. Portage Lakes Career Center Team 1 came in first place. Springfield High School Team 2 claimed the second spot. Portage Lakes Career Center Team 2 won the Aesthetics Award.

The competition is designed to encourage high school students to implement scientific and mathematical principles they have learned in the classroom. Along with Engineer Alan Brubaker, sixteen engineering consulting firms co-sponsor the annual event and offer scholarship opportunities for competition participants who choose a career in civil engineering. Arcadis, Burgess & Niple, CT Consultants, Euthenics, Hammontree & Associates, Jones-Stuckey Ltd, KCI, M-E Companies, ms consultants, Osborn Engineers, Richland Engineering, E.L. Robinson, URS, Michael Baker, Jr.,Inc., ljb inc., and Hatch Mott McDonald were the participating consulting firms this year. Representatives from all sixteen firms were on board with displays, handouts and words of encouragement to help bridge the gap from applied bridge design to a real life professional career in the field. Jim Tressel, Vice President for Strategic Planning for the University of Akron, stopped by to encourage students to pursue education and careers in engineering.

After about three hours of construction, the bridges were brought up on stage to be load tested until their ultimate demise. Bridge after bridge broke under the increased weight hanging from the center of the bridges. The winning team members from Portage Lakes Career Center are Chad Robertson, Howard Eubank, and Jared Williams. They were rewarded with a trophy and cash prizes for their impressive efforts. Second place winners from Springfield High School are Ty Bailey, Brad Cain, and James Williams. Evan Schoonover, Jake Logan and Garrett Masters, also from the Portage Lakes Career Center, won the Aesthetics Award.

Photos of the event are available upon request.

Participating high schools:

Akron Early College

Barberton

Coventry

Cuyahoga Falls

Cuyahoga Valley Christian Academy

Firestone

Four Cities Educational Compact

Garfield

Green

Manchester

Mogadore

Norton

Portage Lakes Career Center

Springfield

Six District Engineering Academy

St. Vincent St. Mary

Western Reserve Academy

Last Updated on Tuesday, 29 January 2013 13:29

Archbishop Hoban wins top prizes at the 12th Annual Miniature Bridge Building Competition

Alan Brubaker, P.E., P.S., Summit County Engineer, hosted the 12th Annual Miniature Bridge Building Competition on February 3rd, 2011 in the Student Union at the University of Akron. Thirty teams from area high schools built miniature bridges of their own designs, made out of balsa wood and according to strict guidelines. Archbishop Hoban High School came in first place by constructing a bridge that held 61 pounds. Firestone High School Team 2 claimed the second spot as well as coming away with the Aesthetics Award.

The competition is designed to encourage high school students to implement scientific and mathematical principles they have learned in the classroom. Along with Engineer Alan Brubaker, fifteen engineering consulting firms co-sponsor the annual event and offer scholarship opportunities for competition participants who choose a career in civil engineering. Arcadis, Burgess & Niple, CT Consultants, Euthenics, Hammontree & Associates, Jones-Stuckey Ltd, KCI, M-E Companies, ms consultants, Osborn Engineers, Palmer Engineering, Richland Engineering, E.L. Robinson, URS, and Hatch Mott McDonald were the participating consulting firms this year. Representatives from all fifteen firms were on board with displays, handouts and words of encouragement to help bridge the gap from applied bridge design to a real life professional career in the field. College students majoring in civil engineering at The University of Akron, including a past participant and scholarship recipient, and professional engineers from the Summit County Engineer’s Office were also busy circulating among the teams to cheer them on while teams competed to build the winning bridge.

After about three hours of construction, the bridges were brought up on stage to be load tested until their ultimate demise. Bridge after bridge broke under the increased weight hanging from the center of the bridges. The winning team members from Archbishop Hoban were Dylan Starvarz, Daniel Ulinski, and Eric Maynard. They were rewarded with a trophy and cash prizes for their impressive efforts. Second place winners from Firestone High School were Ben Wilson, Drew Bangachon, and Vince Musci. These young men were rewarded with cash prizes in addition to gift certificates for winning the Aesthetics Award.

Participating high schools:

Akron Early College

Archbishop Hoban

Barberton

Coventry

Cuyahoga Falls

Firestone

Four Cities Educational Compact

Garfield

Green

Mogadore

Norton

Our Lady of the Elms

Portage Lakes Career Center

Springfield

Six District Engineering Academy

Twinsburg

Western Reserve Academy

2011 Miniature Bridge Building Scores

The scores are downloadable here.

Attachments:
File	Description	File size
2011_mbbc_scores.csv	2011 Miniature Bridge Building Scores in CSV format.	3 Kb
2011_mbbc_scores.xls	2011 MBBC Scores in MS Excel format	18 Kb

2012 MBBC Scholarship Program Criteria & Guidelines

MBBC Logo MISSION: To increase awareness of and promote a career choice in Civil Engineering through educating/mentoring high school students.

GOAL: To increase the number and quality of Civil Engineering students graduating from college through financial incentives in the form of scholarships.

The SCE MBBC Scholarship Program criteria and guidelines are compatible with the Summit County Engineer Miniature Bridge Building Competition mission and goal.

Annual scholarships will be awarded in the amounts listed below to students chosen by the MBBC Scholarship Committee. Students may apply yearly for as many years as they are eligible. Scholarship applications will be available on October 1 and must be returned by February 28 of each calendar year to the MBBC Scholarship Committee.

Attachments:
File	Description	File size
MBBC_Scholarship_Application_04082011.pdf	Civil Engineering Scholarship Application	130 Kb
mbbc_scholarship_criteria_2012_rev2.pdf	Miniature Bridge Building Competition Scholarship Criteria, 2012 Revision 2	98 Kb