STEMblazers Compete in Denver Gingerbread Bridge Competition

By: Peyton Walther

8th Grader, Member of STEMblazers

This year, we did a Gingerbread bridge-building competition in STEMblazers. There were lots of steps to prepare for this competition, such as understanding the rules, meeting with a structural engineer, planning our design, and building and decorating our bridge. 

First, to help our understanding of the competition, we had someone present all of the rules, requirements, and main ideas of the competition. This meeting made it so that we knew what to do before we even started building our bridge. After that initial meeting, we got all of our ideas out. This included team names, possible themes, bridge designs, and any other ideas that we had. We decided on The Gingerbread Women for our team name. 

Our next step was picking a design for our bridge. Each of us did some research on different types of bridges and presented what we thought was the best idea. The structural engineer told us what would be the most effective based on where the weight was being applied, the tension it would experience, and the different size constraints. At this time, we also decided on a theme through a voting process. Since everything had to be edible, our options were limited. We ended up going with the queen of hearts so that different panels of our bridge could be cards. 

Now that we had our name and theme, it was time to choose the structure of our bridge. That is when we started bringing in our homemade gingerbread and icing. We collectively decided to split up our team so that each group worked on a different piece of the bridge. One of the groups built the base, one built the trusses, and one group worked on building the sides. These groups were very effective in getting a lot done in a short period. We experienced some troubles with the gingerbread, but we learned from our mistakes and decided to only use store-bought gingerbread moving forward. We also had the idea to use melted Jolly Ranchers instead of icing, hoping it would have a stronger glue-like consistency.

After our first meeting building the bridge, we were a lot more confident about the competition. We reflected on our mistakes and were preparing for another day of building. Another thing we realized was that we needed more time to build. To solve this problem, we came up with the idea to have a few meetings during advisement in hopes of being able to finish our bridge. 

At our last scheduled meeting, we used the Jolly Ranchers, which worked well to hold the bridge together. We made homemade fondant for decorations and got some help to do the top half of our bridge. We realized that we needed one more meeting to finalize everything, and during that time, we were able to complete the building portion and attach our bridge, along with putting on some of our decorations. We did not finish it in time, but we were able to get some help to finish decorating so that it was ready for the competition. 

The competition was held at the Colorado School of Mines. This was a lot of fun for everyone! There were tables for each bridge to be displayed on, tables for the teams to sit at, and then a stage where the rig to test the bridge was. Before they tested the bridges, the teams got to go around and look at all the bridges, and we were given a form to fill out for which ones we liked best.  Thankfully, we won fourth place in people's choice even though we might not have won the weight competition. The process of testing the bridges was very well done and very exciting. First, we weighed our bridge, then put it in the rig and pulled a lever to see how much weight it would hold. Even though our bridge broke before we could test it, the competition was still really fun. There was also a raffle in between a few of the bridges for some products the sponsors gave us. All together the competition was very enjoyable since everyone there was so supportive and kind. 

This competition was very challenging to complete, but it was a great experience. Making the bridge was very rewarding and also very grounding when it comes to time management. I am so proud of our team - we worked hard, learned a lot, and had a fun time doing it all, and I would love to do it again. We made a few mistakes with time management and materials, but we could easily work out those problems in the future. Winning isn’t everything, but getting to have this experience was everything.