Bridge Bust encourages life skills, STEM principles

In an age of instant messaging, instant cooking and instant gratification, it can be hard to take your time with things. Each year, Bridge Bust teams work for weeks to plan and build a bridge, and many participants come back year after year to continue learning.

“We love working on our bridge every year, it’s truly a family project,” said Magda Emmert, a parent and 4-H club leader, who’s been part of the event for three years. “There is something to learn each year.”

On Jan. 12, families, community members, 4-H’ers and school students put their engineering skills to the test in the seventh annual 4-H Bridge Bust Competition. This year, teams competed from Aurora, Carol Stream, Darien, Montgomery, Naperville, Newark, North Aurora, Oswego, Plano, Sandwich and Yorkville.

“Since 2012, this Bridge Bust Competition has promoted engineering, innovation, creativity, and STEM careers, as well as teamwork and sportsmanship,” said Jo Ann Britton, 4-H Youth Development program coordinator with University of Illinois Extension. “The goal is to provide area youth and families with a unique way to challenge their brains, work together and learn new things, all while having fun.”

More than 20 teams registered for the contest and 13 braved the snowy weather to participate in the 2019 event with 4-H Youth Development through University of Illinois Extension, and partners Rural King of Plano and Cross Lutheran School in Yorkville.

The 2019 overall award for structural efficiency went to the Spanglish 4-H Club and its members: Adalyn Behan, Walter Behan, Emerson Casbarian, Lilianna Casbarian, Anna Emmert, Eric Emmert, Mariano Muñoz, Vanessa Muñoz, Annabelle Reeder, Matthew Schmieder, Sera Wyncoop and Theo Wyncoop. Their bridge held 52.6 pounds of sand with an efficiency rating of 500.09, one of the best scores in the local contest’s history. The 4-H Club team has worked on improving its designs and engineering over the past few years, and this year even tested their ideas with linguine bridges before choosing the final concept.

“We learned you need to be efficient, and you have to think about a lot of things when making a bridge,” said Anna. “This year, we used triangles and had extra support on the bottom. We also had more experience with bridge busting.”

Charlie and Xander Albertson of Yorkville took home the overall award for aesthetics with their bridge. The brother pair also returned to the competition this year having learned from past experience and with a win in structural efficiency in 2018. “We focused on both aesthetics and structural efficiency this year,” said Xander. “We have learned a lot and tried to balance it.”

It worked. In addition to the overall Aesthetics Award, the Albertsons won first place for efficiency and aesthetics in the Family Division.

During the aesthetics judging, the crowd heard from two guest speakers. Kyle Dorf, the Chicago metropolitan airspace program manager for the FAA Chicago Airports District Office, shared some of his project work, walking youth through the challenges and solutions of each, as well as careers and educational experiences available. He has volunteered for the event multiple years, starting when he was an engineering student at University of Illinois Chicago.

Past Bridge Bust champion Zoe Wareman of Oswego also spoke about her years as a Bridge Bust participant and the important learning process, as well as her role as a 4-H Teen Science Ambassador and a high school robotics team member.

“Zoe found 4-H through Bridge Bust,” said Britton. “This event has bridged our tri-county area communities with 4-H, allowing suburban youth to get to know the youth development program through a STEM lens.”

Wareman and her robotics club provided demonstrations during the event, and the 4-H Teen Science Ambassadors taught the National 4-H Youth Science Day computer coding lesson, Code Your World, before the busting began.

For weeks, the registered teams designed and built bridges – each with the same provided materials and guidelines.

“This project really brings together many skills from start to finish,” said Britton. “It encourages organization, time management, teamwork and communication skills, as well as skills in engineering, physics, math, design and more.”

Teams competed in multiple divisions, including family, youth, and noncompetitive, which is designed for youth ages 5 to 9. Aesthetic scores were based on provided specifications, the quality of craftsmanship, sound structural design and originality. Structural efficiency ratings were calculated based on the weight of a bridge and the maximum weight supported by it.

Full results of the 2019 Bridge Bust are as follows:

Family Division: Aesthetics Awards: first place, Albertsons; second, the Buhle family of Newark; third, the Emmert family of Yorkville; fourth, the Schofield family of Darien; and fifth, the Wendorf family of North Aurora. Structural Efficiency Awards: first place, Albertsons; second, the Emmerts; third, the Wyncoop family of Plano; fourth, the Buhles; and fifth, the Wendorfs.

Youth Division: Aesthetics Awards: first place, Bridging Bumblebees of Sandwich – Vanessa Baker, Fiona Legge, Autumn Owens, Audrey Stephenitch, and Tessie Thomas; second, Engineers in Training of DuPage County – Ahmad Alsabbar, Carter Gayton, Nikhil Kodali, Arjun Patel, and Dylan Xianto; third, the Spanglish 4-H Club of Kendall County. Structural Efficiency Awards: first place, Spanglish 4-H Club; second, Engineers in Training; and third, Bridging Bumblebees.

“We are grateful to our partners, volunteers and guests for making this annual event a great success,” Britton said. “We look forward to the event each year, and enjoy seeing youth and community members enjoy this fun, educational opportunity.”