The Engineering Professions Association Of Namibia

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1 The Engineering Professions Association Of Namibia YOUNG ENGINEERS CONSTRUCTION PROJECT EPA Young Engineers Construction Project 2000 Bridge Building The Bridge Building Competition was held on 1 April 2000 at the Windhoek International School. The winners and their winning entries were: 1. Deutsche Höhere Privatschule Bridge: 204 g; Load: 71,5 kg 2. PK de Villiers High School Bridge: 109 g; Load: 25,5 kg 3. Windhoek High School Bridge: 237 g; Load: 51,5 kg The winning team was sponsored to participate in the International Bridge Building Competition arranged by SAICE on 13 April 2000 in Pretoria. At this competition, the Namibian team gained the honours of winning the first prize among 22 teams. Their bridge, with a mass of 165,4 g, carried a load of 40 kg, which was 10 kg more than the bridge taking 2 nd place. The Namibian team is congratulated on taking the international bridge-building honours home to Namibia for the first time in the history of the international bridge building competition! 1

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7 Bridging the Gap for future engineers SAICE's Annual International Bridge Building Competition April 2000 SAICE's Annual Bridge Building Competition, coinciding with our Annual National Congress, has again hosted international participants. The Competition attracts scholars or `aspirant engineers' from schools around the country and beyond, and the finalists are all winners of their regional competitions. Mr Dawie Botha, Executive Director of SAKE said that the fact that this year's competition hosted the largest number of teams so far, 23 including two teams out of South Africa, showed that the recognition and prestige of the competition was growing. "Some of these scholars are our country's future engineers. Competitions such as this one help to stimulate additional interest in those scholars who may have considered engineering as a profession, as well as promoting the industry as a whole to scholars and current engineers alike, as well as the layman. The international competition assists to reinforce this, as well as enhancing the standards of the competition, which of course is what engineering is all about," said Botha. The international competition comprises of the number of teams entered, with three scholars per team. For this year each team was provided with 25 bowling sticks, two tubes of superglue, sandpaper,

8 8 a mini skill-saw, a cutting block and string. They were given specifications regarding the mass, length and width of the bridge. Using the equipment and specifications provided, the teams then had a total of seven and a half hours to complete their bridges. Upon completion, the bridges were judged for aesthetics, design and mass according to the specifications, and points allocated for each. At a gala event, with the Mayor of Pretoria, Councillor Daniel Mampuru and an audience of approximately 300 stayed to witness the final testing procedure. Each bridge was weighed and loaded by applying downward mass, until a portion of the bridge cracks or snaps. The final mass is then considered the breaking mass, and points are applied accordingly. The winning team is the team with the highest combined points. "Our congratulations go to all participants for reaching this level of the competition, their enthusiasm and camaraderie, and specific congratulations to Deutsche Hohere Privat Schule Windhoek, St Georges College and St Stithians College for winning, second and third respectively. Alexander High School of Pietermaritzburg needs to be complemented for winning the aesthetics division with a whopping 25 points. "We also look forward to having more participants from our neighbours north of our boundaries, as well as some of our European counter parts," said Botha. YECP 09 (2000) Report.doc

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