| Click Photo to Enlarge |
Jon Hart (right) takes a weight from Mason Rueger and places it in the bucket hanging from his bridge design during the 2012 Bridge Breaking competition at Mooseheart. Hart's design held 13 pounds before breaking and was the contest winner.
Mason Rueger (right) breathes a deep sigh after taking a weight from James Ranum and placing it in the bucket beneath his bridge design during the 2012 Mooseheart Bridge Breaking contest. Rueger's bridge held 10.5 pounds before breaking and he finished second in the six-person competition.
Logan Reed keeps a close eye on her bridge as she adds weight to it during the 2012 Mooseheart Bridge Breaking competition. Reed's construction held 9.5 pounds before breaking and she finished third.
James Ranum tries to reattach the bucket to his bridge construction during the 2012 Mooseheart Bridge Breaking contest. Ranum was unable to rehang the bucket from his bridge, although his design held 8.4 pounds before breaking.
Temi Alade asks for patience as she places weight beneath her bridge construction. Alade's bridge held 6 pounds in the 2012 Mooseheart Bridge Breaking Competition.
Arranda Patton gasps as her bridge tumbles from the stools that previously supported her design. Patton's bridge held the block-and-tackle and bucket before it broke.
|
MOOSEHEART, Jan. 6 - They bend, they creak, and ultimately they all break. But before they become scrap, every year a collection of balsa wood bridges are the pride and joy of the Mooseheart High School students who have crafted them.
This year, six balsa bridge constructions went through the ultimate test on Friday at Mooseheart, undergoing the stress of having a block-and-tackle attached, and then a bucket hung and finally weights added to the bucket. In the end, all broke - as all have done through the 25-year history of the Bridge Breaking Contest run by Mooseheart’s veteran Physics teacher, Curt Schlinkmann.
When the final tallies were calculated, junior Jon Hart’s construction proved the sturdiest, withstanding 13 pounds before breaking into pieces.
“I thought it’d be good, but I didn’t think it would be this good,” Hart said. “I was lucky to get that much weight into it.”
Hart said he spent two days of his Christmas break working on the bridge. Although his design was similar to many, he said he added some extra bracing to the center, which is where the bucket is attached.
“I was trying to incorporate triangles because we learned that triangles are the most-sound structures,” Hart said. “That’s what I thought would be the best for the bridge.”
The Bridge Breaking Contest comes as part of an overall unit on bridge construction. In the past, bridges were made from kits that used basswood, which is stronger than balsawood. A variety of glues have been used. Currently, Schlinkmann allows students to use whatever glue they prefer. The record for a balsa wood bridge put together in the same manner as this year’s was 15.2 pounds, set by Cayana Samuelson in 2011.
“The whole point of this is to get them thinking,” Schlinkmann said. “We didn’t spend a whole lot of time talking about stresses on bridges. But it’s a fun thing to get them thinking about bridge-building, and how they might design a bridge. I know some of them were talking about changes they might have made to their designs if they were to do it again.”
While only six bridges were broken this year, the variety in design was greater than in some past contests. James Ranum constructed an arch design. Mason Rueger’s lattice-work design was also unique.
“There were a lot of different styles this year, and two radically different styles in what (Ranum and Rueger) did,” Schlinkmann said. “I was interested to see what would happen because they were so different.”
Every year, most of the Mooseheart student body packs itself into the large (but not THAT large) Physics classroom to watch the Bridge Breaking, and this year was no exception. Hart said he was somewhat nervous as he waited for his chance to put his bridge to the test.
“(Ranum’s) bridge didn’t even flex when he started to put some serious weight under it,” Hart said. “And (Rueger) said his was going to be the best. I was kind of worried.”
Rueger finished second with a bridge that held 10.5 pounds before breaking. Logan Reed’s bridge held 9.5 pounds before breaking and finished third. Ranum (8.4 pounds), Temi Alade (6 pounds) and Arrana Patton (3 pounds) rounded out the competitive field.
Since its founding, Mooseheart has operated a complete, accredited kindergarten-through-high-school academic program, plus art, music, vocational training and interscholastic sports. It is an extremely nurturing and student-tailored program, with an average student-teacher ratio of 12-1.
Mooseheart students who complete their studies with a 3.0 GPA or better (4.0=A) are eligible for up to five years of annually renewable scholarship funding, covering tuition, room and board in an amount comparable to that required for an in-state student at an Illinois public university.
Mooseheart is currently home to roughly 230 students, ranging in age from preschoolers to high school seniors. Applications for admission to Mooseheart are considered from any family whose children are, for whatever reason, lacking a stable home environment. Mooseheart boasts its own U.S. Post Office and a fully functioning branch of Fifth Third Bank.
In addition to Mooseheart, Moose International also supports Moosehaven, a 70-acre retirement community near Jacksonville, FL founded in 1922; and conducts more than $70 million worth of community service programs annually.
|
