MOOSEHEART, IL -- For the first time in the more-than-20-year history of Mooseheart High School's physics-class Bridge-Breaking Competition, Adrianna Tezanos-Pinto had used up all the weights in the classroom.
And still, her wooden-construction bridge refused to break.
So another student was dispatched to find more weight to see just how much Tezanos-Pinto's bridge could withstand--in the latest installment of Mooseheart physics teacher Curt Schlinkmann's annual contest, which took place Friday.
But after nearly five minutes, Tezanos-Pinto's bridge finally collapsed before the student could return, which led to a question of just how much weight the senior's bridge was bearing.
The full bucket of weight suspended from the middle of the bridge was emptied and tallied - and the result was 71 pounds--a whopping 24 pounds more than any bridge had previously held in the history of the event.
"I didn't think I was going to win and I did," Tezanos-Pinto said. "I'm really happy."
Schlinkmann, who has taught science at Mooseheart since 1975, has conducted the competition as part of his class since the early 1980s. He has the best all-time scores posted next to his desk; Lathe Helms' 1998 design had been the previous champ, having withstood 47 pounds before it broke.
"Every year, they get better," Schlinkmann said. "This year's class was great."
And, all the bridges do eventually break, as did the six put together by this year's Mooseheart seniors. Some of the students named their bridges and others colored their creations. But when the hour-long exercise viewed by the entire high school student body was over, all the bridges were just broken pieces of wood.
"The hardest part is that they have to break them," Schlinkmann said. "They put so much time building them. But when they get down to breaking them, they have a lot of fun doing it."
Schlinkmann said he is a bad judge of bridge architecture, though he said he looks forward to seeing what the students have come up with each year. The students construct their bridges away from the classroom and see how much weight they will bear in the first week after returning from Christmas break.
"It's very exciting," Tezanos-Pinto said. "It's something new and it's very fun. It was a fun project."
Tezanos-Pinto, recently inducted with Melissa Quitoriano into the National Honor Society at Mooseheart, has plans to attend California State University, Sacramento. She intends to major in business and marketing. She had an explanation for why her bridge withstood so much weight before it broke.
"I built my bridge in three parts," she said. "I built my legs and then I built the base of the bridge. And the main part is putting 'X's' into the bridge to give it more support. I was putting triangles and X's into my bridge."
Building and then breaking wooden bridges puts a real face to physics concepts Schlinkmann has been teaching in his class.
"The main concept is that the triangle is stronger than the square," Schlinkmann said.
And the history of the bridge-breaking is one of the enduring traditions at Mooseheart.
"It kind of ties everybody together," Schlinkmann said. "Ten years from now, they'll remember. Ten years from now, I'll remember Adrianna's bridge."
This year's runner-up bridge was built by Melissa Quitoriano, whose creation withstood 35.6 pounds before it broke. Tomisha Bennett (35.4 pounds), Tara Janssen (27.7 pounds), Arturo Fernandez (20.5 pounds) and Stephen Pinto (17 pounds) also built bridges for Friday's competition.
Mooseheart Child City & School is a 1,000-acre community and school for children and teens in need of a secure home, located just south of Batavia, IL, between Illinois Route 31 and Randall Road.
Founded in 1913, Mooseheart is supported completely through private donations - the great majority of which come from the 1.1 million men and women of the Moose fraternal organization, in more than 1,900 Lodges and 1,600 Chapters located throughout the U.S., Canada, Great Britain and Bermuda. Moose International headquarters is located on the Mooseheart campus.
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 nearly 250 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 $90 million worth of community service programs annually.
Founded in 1888, the Moose organization has long offered its members an opportunity to do good for others while celebrating life, with family, social, and sporting activities. For more information on the Moose organization, visit the websites at www.Mooseintl.org and www.Mooseheart.org or call 630-966-2229.
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