The recent polar vortex may have bumped the Chicago Regional Bridge Building Contest from its originally scheduled date in January, but 74 local high school students along with family members and teachers instead came out to Mies Campus on February 13 to participate in the annual event.

The two winners from three regional categories (Chicago City, Chicago North Suburban, and Chicago South Suburban) will go on to enter their bridges in the international competition on April 6 in Baltimore. The six regional winners represented Jones College Prep, Loyola Academy, Metea Valley High School, and Lincoln-Way East High School.

Roy Coleman (PHYS ’64) and Illinois Tech Professor Emeritus Earl Zwicker (M.S. PHYS ’52, Ph.D. ’59) worked to initiate efforts for Illinois Tech to host the annual regional bridge building contest, now in its 44th year. Chicago-area high schools hold their own bridge building contests in December or January, with top winners participating in the Illinois Tech event. Bridges are tested for efficiency, which is measured as the ratio of bridge mass to how much weight the bridge can support before it breaks.

Duchossois Leadership Professor Carlo Segre has been involved in the event since 1993.