Students put their noodles to work in structural engineering competition

TOUGH ENOUGH?— Above, high school students from Ventura and Santa Barbara counties watch as bridges constructed of dried spaghetti and epoxy are tested for their structural integrity July 24 at California State University Channel Islands. The bridge-breaking event was part of the Johns Hopkins Engineering Innovation for High School Students program, a fiveweek structural engineering course that culminates in a competition that requires teams of students to build and test noodle and glue bridges. At right, Santa Paula High School student Gustavo Castillo, 14, carefully places water bottles in a basket hanging from the bridge his team built. The winning bridge, made by Max Trainoff of Foothill Technology High School and Casy Cannon of Newbury Park High School, held 60 bottles of water, which set a new West Coast program record, besting the previous record of 44. WENDY PIERRO/Acorn Newspapers