AUBURN – Each St. Dominic Regional High School geometry honors student was recently assigned a project – to design and build the lightest bridge capable of supporting the heaviest weight when hung or placed on a given span.

Each bridge had to have a roadbed that would allow a match box car to be driven over it without falling through and could not weigh more than two pounds. The only materials that were allowed in building the bridges were Elmer’s glue and Delverde Bucatini No. 6 spaghetti.

Specific instructions were given as to the types of bonding the students could use, for example only three strands of spaghetti could be glued together in a parallel manner unless it was part of the roadbed design. Students were also required to pass a pre-construction design, a list of geometric shapes used and an actual post-construction design.

One spaghetti bridge was judged by a panel of teachers as the most aesthetically appealing. The winners were Kaitlyn Bosse and Heidi Nadeau.

Another spaghetti bridge was judged for efficiency. The mass of what the bridge would hold was divided by the weight of the bridge. The most efficient spaghetti bridge winner was Mariah Maheux. Her bridge weighed 1.05 pounds and held a total of 638 pounds.

The final spaghetti bridge was judged for overall strength, the maximum load applied. Two bridges held a total of 638 pounds and were still standing under the weight when they ran out of available weights to apply.

The bridges belonged to Mariah Maheux, John Winter and Sarah Weber. Because of the tie, the winner was determined by the structure of the bridge after all of the weights were removed. The final winners were John Winter and Sara Weber.

Kathy Brush’s geometry honors students agreed that the project was an innovative way to learn and a fun way to “pasta” time.