By Jason Wesseldyk
Sports Editor
It’s been a historic year for Plainwell Middle School’s bridge building program.
Seven teams from the school qualified for the State of Michigan Design and Build Bridge Challenge, while another advanced to the national level, highlighting the strength of the program and the work being done by students in and out of the classroom.
The process to reach those competitions is extensive. Students must submit detailed research proposals — often 20-25 pages — present their designs to professional engineers and construct a 16-inch balsa wood truss bridge capable of withstanding testing.
At the state level, Plainwell had seven teams, totaling 21 students, qualify for the competition held April 14 in Grand Rapids. With proposals submitted from schools across Michigan, having that many teams accepted was a notable accomplishment.
Those teams included INVINCIBridge (Tripp Wheeler, Blake Kemp, Ryan Halik), MMB (Conner Campbell, Gavin Drewyor, Jayce Wrobleski), TMW (Hunter Sopjes, Dylan Larsen, Emmett Haire), Terrific Trojans (Leah DeHaan, Vera Wilkinson, Alexis Hansen), Trojan Truss Bridge Builder (Maximus Steimel, Oliver Longcore, Egan Schippers), SSURT (Finley Lyster, Ben Stroup, Nick Schmittling) and JRC (Joshua Preuss, Remington Randall, Carter Torres).
Plainwell also had a presence on the national stage.
Team JRC—Joshua Preuss, Carter Torres and Remington Randall—was one of just six teams selected from more than 70 proposals representing 20 states to compete at the national competition April 13 in Savannah, Georgia.
The team placed fourth overall.
It marked the second straight year Plainwell Middle School has had a team qualify for the national competition.
