Clinton students bring home awards in bridge-building and electric vehicle competitions

CLINTON — Students at Clinton High School involved in STEM-related classes continue to represent the school district well in statewide and national competitions.

Over the past handful of weeks, Clinton teams participated in a national bridge competition in Madison, Wisconsin, and an innovative vehicle competition at Kettering University in Flint.

At each event, Clinton students put their science, technology, engineering and mathematics skills to the test and earned two third-place finishes at the bridge competition and three first-place finishes at the electric vehicles program.

Outreach Bridge Competition

The American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials (AASHTO) sponsored the STEM Outreach Bridge Competition April 23-25 in Madison.

Eighteen teams competed and were divided into grade groups — 7/8, 9/10, 11/12 — where they demonstrated their talent, innovation and problem-solving abilities.

Clinton teams in the 9/10 and 11/12 grade divisions each earned a third-place finish and a check for $600 each. Teams were tasked with presenting, designing and constructing model bridges that could withstand rigorous testing.

Three Clinton sophomores, Brian Ferre, Jaren Settles and Robert McDonald representing team ProTRACtors earned their spot in the 9/10 division and competed against five other engineering teams from across the country. Participants were challenged to design and build bridges using limited materials while adhering to specific civil engineering guidelines and industry standards.

“These students invested countless hours into their project over the past school year using their knowledge of structural and civil engineering to construct the model bridge, develop a thorough design proposal, and give a presentation about their entire experience,” a news release from Clinton Community Schools said. “The students had to use industry-standard software such as Bentley Solutions, a 2D & 3D modeling system, as well as construct a bridge that could withstand load testing.”

Mission ImBALSAble, made up of Clinton juniors Katelyn Baker, Mattis Riddle and Kamryn Van Sickle, were in the 11/12 division.

Having competed in the 9/10 division last year, the team faced new challenges, the release said, as they took on the 11/12 group this year and its new style of bridge — a self-anchored suspension. They needed to tailor their previous knowledge, collaboration skills, and innovative techniques to earn a spot back in the national competition.

The first phase of the competition required students to present to a panel of engineers their bridge, the engineering design process they used and their knowledge of the forces that would affect their structure. The second phase of the competition was load testing. A Pitsco structure tester applied pressure to the bridge, simulating real-world load conditions to evaluate the structural integrity of the model. Mission ImBALSAble’s self-anchored suspension bridge, which weighed 42.86 grams, held 18 pounds before the structure began to bend, twist and finally break. Earning an efficiency of 190.5, their bridge held more than 190 times its weight, the release said.

Team ProTRACtors, using a half-through arch design, weighed just over 24 grams and withstood 16 pounds of force, giving them an efficiency of 302.4.

More than 70 teams faced off in STEM autonomous vehicle program

Kettering University hosted more than 70 Michigan high school teams in a day of autonomous, connected and electric vehicle competitions for the Square One Education Network’s 14th annual Innovative Vehicle Design (IVD) competition.

The event, a news release said, is the culmination of a hands-on, year-long STEM program in which students designed and built small-scale autonomous, connected, electric vehicles. The competitions test each vehicle’s performance and endurance while incorporating real-world challenges, such as autonomous missions to parallel park and avoid obstacles.

The IVD competition is one of Square One’s signature series events, which aim to inspire kindergarten through 12th grade students to pursue future careers in the industry. The students create their vehicles using a fixed budget, basic parts and a set of requirements.

Square One’s IVD Competition allows 70 student teams from schools across Michigan to apply the technical knowledge they've gained to develop electric vehicles. After months of hard work, the students faced off in competitions focused on vehicle performance and endurance.

Teams competed in one of the following challenges: student-built, go-kart-sized electric vehicles; autonomous vehicles built on Power Wheels Jeep platforms; and 1/10th-scale, radio-controlled, re-engineered vehicles.

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The Clinton teams won:

• First place, Autonomous, innovative engineering.
• First place, Autonomous, PR and marketing.
• First place, Mini Senior, presentation.
• Second place, Full Scale, ambassadorship.

Sand Creek Community Schools also had students competing at the event, coming in second place in the Mini Senior division's design category and first place in the Mini Senior division''s PR and Marketing category.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.