Press+Release+for+the+Nationals

Contact: Bill Shreck, MDOT Director of Communications, 517-335-3084 Agency: Transportation || May 19, 2009 -- Three Negaunee High School students have won a national competition with the bridge they built out of balsa wood. The team used basic engineering principles learned by participating in the Transportation and Civil Engineering (TRAC) Program to design and build the bridge and then load-tested it to see how it would perform in actual use.
 * || |||| Michigan students win national bridge building contest
 *  || [[image:http://www.michigan.gov/images/mdot/MDOT_Negaunnee_Team-Winners_279032_7.jpg width="350" height="238" caption="National Champs! Bridge-building Negaunee High School students, from left to right, are: Mario Marana, John Bourgeois and Brad St. Germain."]] ||
 * Bridge-building Negaunee High School students, from left to right, are: Mario Marana, John Bourgeois and Brad St. Germain. ||

The Michigan team drove 12 hours through the night following a regional track meet in the Upper Peninsula on Thursday, May 14, to be in Bedford, Pa., in time to set up for the competition that began at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 15. They competed against two teams from New Hampshire in the suspension bridge building category.

"This is the first time a team from Michigan has placed first in the national finals. The effort and determination of these students to represent our state was truly outstanding," said State Transportation Director Kirk T. Steudle. "We are very proud of this team."

The three winning students, John Bourgeois, Mario Marana, and Brad St. Germain, are in a computer-aided drafting class taught by team advisor Kevin Bell, and will split a $1,500 savings bond first-place award. They had to beat teams from 21 states and several countries to qualify for the national finals.

TRAC modules are hands-on activities that give high school and junior high school students an opportunity to apply science, math, and social studies skills to solve real-world engineering problems and become interested in engineering careers. The Michigan Department of Transportation (MDOT) has offered AASHTO's TRAC Program in Michigan since 2004.

Professionals from MDOT and other transportation agencies volunteer their time to visit students in the classroom and teach TRAC modules that enhance concepts the class is studying. The TRAC Program is fully funded by the Federal Highway Administration and is offered to schools throughout the state at no cost.

For more information about the TRAC Program, visit MDOT's Web site at [|www.michigan.gov/mdot-trac], or contact Jan Pohl, Michigan TRAC Program manager, at 517-373-9571.