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Students from the 7th Day Adventist School gathered at the Whitepine Grange Hall earlier this month to present and compete in their very first toothpick bridge contest. Teacher Maurita Crew said the students could use up to 750 flat toothpicks, and they could use any glue they wanted, "but most chose to use yellow wood glue. The bridges had to span 12 inches and be at least four inches wide. There could only be glue on the joints (where they connected) of the toothpicks."

While this is Crew's first year teaching at the Trout Creek school, the toothpick bridge building contest has been a long-standing tradition, passed down from her father, Marcel Grondahl. The contest dates back to 1972. She has been leading the bridge contest for the last 24 years. This year is the first year the kids in this area have participated in Crew's contest, and you could tell the kids and the parents hope it's a tradition that sticks around.

"She's a wonderful teacher," said Ray Langford, one of about 40 family members and friends who attended the contest. "The kids love her, and they really connect with her. It's nice to see this kind of modern innovation being taught here."

This year, Crew's class consisted of 10 children in grades 3-8. This contest was a fundraiser for the children to raise money for STEM projects, which are hands-on science projects, as well as funds for future field trips. In total, the children raised more than $3,000. They studied various structures of bridges in order to better understand how to build their bridges. They also met with the county commissioners to learn about the building of the historic high bridge in Thompson Falls.

"This is a fundraiser, and it's always better when the kids earn the money themselves, instead of having help from their parents. It was hard work, it really was," Crew said. The fundraiser raised money similar to that of a walk-a-thon. The kids received pledges based on how much weight their bridge would hold. Crew noted that some kids raised up to $1.25 a pound.

The contest itself was to see how much weight each bridge would hold. "When a student completes a project like this, it shows grit," Crew stated. "If you look, not one student has a similar design." For the contest to begin, each student was called to bring their bridge up to the front. Crew noted that each student predicted the weight they thought each of their bridges would hold.

Miriah Kardelis

WINNERS of the bridge competition were (from left) Catalina Biegler, first place, Taylinn Craik, second, and third, Kylee Evans.

As the students set their bridge in place, the "tower of power" was used as an apparatus to hold weight down on the bridges. Starting with adding 10 pounds every three seconds, the nervous students would look on as more and more weight was added to their bridge. When the toothpick bridges would finally succumb to the weight, the whole room would erupt with cheer as each of the bridges came crashing down.

This year's winners were Catalina Biegler in first place, with her bridge holding 195 pounds. Taylinn Craik won second place, with her bridge holding 185 pounds. In third place was Kylee Evans with a bridge weight of 175 pounds.

The following is a list of students, the name of their bridge, how many toothpicks they used and how much weight the bridge held.

Kylie Evans, The Blue Glue, 64 toothpics, 175 pounds; Catalina Biegler, Faded Blue, 720, 195; Jessica Evans, Number 17689, 750, 145; Matney Pieper, Not so Little Miss Perfect," 750, 145; Taylinn Craik, Crusher, 688, 185; Serena Overbeck, Sunrise Bridge, 720, 165; Seth Overbeck, American Bridge, 661, 65; Jackson Biegeler, c1289H2051N3430375S8, 700, 95; Jim Hanson, Tree Hugger, 712, 125; Annaliese Craik, A Light Dusting, 750, 125.