Cal Poly Update | March 2007 | SCE Building Bridges with Local High Schools

Society of Civil Engineers Building Bridges to Local High Schools

SAN LUIS OBISPO -- Engineering Professor David Jansen and Chris Pratt, a fourth-year civil engineering major at Cal Poly and vice president of the campus Society of Civil Engineers, helped revitalize an annual science contest that has local high school students building and testing bridges.

Thirteen teams of high schools students from around San Luis Obispo County designed and built bridges out of popsicle sticks this weekend, with teams competing to build a bridge that carried the heaviest load.

One withstood 1,300 lbs. of weight. SCE decided to revive the once-popular program this year. "I want kids to be excited about building things," Pratt said. "When it gets to that time of their junior year in high school and they can say, ‘Hey, I want to be a civil engineer,’ that’s our goal."

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