February 27, 2025 -- For the first time in school history, Beechcroft High School entered teams to participate in the Central Ohio Miniature Bridge Building Competition.
Organized by the Franklin County Engineer’s Office, this stimulating Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) experience brought together more than 160 teams and over 400 students from five counties across Central Ohio. Students designed, built, and tested miniature bridges, all aiming to achieve the highest load-to-weight capacity ratio.
Five teams from Beechcroft joined in on the excitement of the annual event.
“I was initially worried since it was my first time in the mini bridge building competition,” said Richard Opara, junior at the school. “As I built our bridge with my teammates, I felt more comfortable and excited to see how our bridge would perform.”
Live bridge building and testing showcased students’ creativity, engineering skills, and teamwork.
“I could figure out how much material we may have needed for the competition thanks to our math classes, and we could quickly brainstorm and modify our bridge thanks to our engineering classes,” Opara said.
This hands-on competition certainly took learning to the next level. Beechcroft High School Engineering & Math Teacher and STEM Club Adviser Deborah Dean encourages all schools, regardless of their Career-Technical Education (CTE) programming, to try participating in a competition like this.
“It's more than just the mathematics that goes into it,” Dean said. “If you look around, each bridge is going to be different. There's no one cookie cutter type of bridge, so watching students go through the engineering design process and using the knowledge they have developed in their classes to build their bridge is amazing.”
The competition highlighted the growing enthusiasm for STEM education in Central Ohio and provided an inspiring hands-on experience for the next generation of engineers.
“I recommend this experience to future students,” Opara added. “It is an opportunity to have fun with your friends or make new friends, and it’s a way to gain building experience that could help later in life.”
Dean is proud of her students for stepping up and challenging themselves with this unique opportunity.
“This can be a little bit intimidating because you're coming out to compete against so many teams from all around central Ohio,” Dean said. “But just coming out here, stepping out of their comfort zone to try something new, and persevere through the process with their teammates, I'm proud of them for that.”
In its first year competing, Beechcroft High School performed exceptionally well. Out of 160 teams, two of the school’s five teams ranked number 24 and 26 overall. The team from Marion-Franklin High School, another notable school within Columbus City Schools ranked the highest in the District at number 16.
Needless to say, this will not be Beechcroft’s last time competing in the mini bridge building competition.
“Some of the kids have already talked about next year, and we're not even there yet!” Dean said.
In addition to Beechcroft and Marion-Franklin, West High School and Northland High School also participated in the event. Click here to see how all CCS teams placed in the Mini Bridge Building Competition.
