“You guys are bridge number three, head over to the table and put it on the number,”  said the judge to Amelia Evavold after weighing her bridge in the field house at UMD.

Yesterday seven students from the SHS physics class headed up to UMD for the 25th annual bridge building contest.

With over 170 bridges entered into the competition. Students from schools all round the area built bridges to compete to see who could hold up the most weight. The requirements were that the bridges each had span 55 centimeters, weigh under 90 grams and could not be taller than 15 centimeters.

Junior Amelia Evavold was one of the seven students to go to UMD, building a bridge that weighed 66.5 grams. Her design was an arch that had lower supports that braced up against the cinder blocks, which held 18.35 kilograms (40 pounds).

“Our bridge’s performance exceeded my expectations.” Evavold said

However, there were some bumps in the road with the construction of the bridge in the classroom.

“We did have to alter our initial bridge plan so that it would be easier to construct,” Evavold said. “Toward the end we realized the bridge was wobbling side to side, so we added some extra small platforms so it wouldn’t tip over. These ended up helping a lot.”

However, through all of the hard work and time put into it, Evavold’s bridge did not beat Hermantown’s bridge. Hermantown placed first in the competition for holding up the most weight. The total weight held was 69.5 kilograms (153 pounds).

Evavold has considered both engineering and architecture as career path in the future.