It was hard not to feel like a kid again as dozens of students from a number of schools across St. Clair College went head-to-head to find out who could build the most structurally sound popsicle stick bridge.
The Popsicle Bridge Busting Contest, hosted on March 26, 2025, in the Windsor Main Campus cafeteria, pitted student against student to see whose popsicle stick bridge could withstand the most weight before busting.
Students showcase their popsicle bridges prior to testing at the Popsicle Bridge Busting Contest on March 26, 2025. (Dale Cabuquin/St. Clair College)
"While this was a fun opportunity to join with classmates in good healthy competition, the contest also challenged students to take their learned materials and apply them," said William Tape, a professor in the School of Engineering Technologies, which hosted the event. "Ultimately, the goal was fun through learning."
And fun, they had, with more than 50 students entering the competition, using nothing but popsicle sticks, glue and engineering know-how.
Test equipment was supplied and operated by Anthony Mandarino from Intrepid Contracting, which applied a load to the centre of the bridge with the intent of finding the bridge that met the criteria and sustained the heaviest load before failing - or exceeding the test equipment.
Students showcase their popsicle bridges prior to testing at the Popsicle Bridge Busting Contest on March 26, 2025. (Dale Cabuquin/St. Clair College)
Each bridge needed to span 50 centimetres, featuring 150 popsicle sticks or less. The popsicle sticks could be cut to make any shape, and the students didn't disappoint, creating a handful of intriguing designs.
First-year student Felipe Elgueta worked on his bridge for two weeks prior to the event.
"I looked for some patterns to develop the final construction for that bridge. I spend too much time every day sticking together every popsicle stick," Elgueta said. "It was really fun, and I looked for a lot of information on the internet, and I used some shapes or geometries to develop the bridge."
When the day was done, a few bridges stood out above the rest - including one from first-year Woodworking Technician student Linyun Zheng, whose bridge was able to withstand 732.7 times its weight - almost triple the bridge strength of the nearest competitor.
Matthew Mertz, a third-year Civil Engineering Technology student and Riley Bates, a second-year Mechanical Engineering Technology student, rounded out the top three. Their bridges respectively withstood 228.7 and 279.9 times their weight.
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