8 December 2017
On the morning of 6th December, eight Year 8 girls travelled to Collingswood College, Guilford, to take part in the SATRO Construction Challenge.
When we arrived, we were split into pairs and then sat at a table with students from different schools. We were shown how to make paper rods, by putting tape over the end of a piece of A4 paper and using a paper rolling tool to roll the paper and seal it with the tape. We then hole punched the end of the tube and used nuts and bolts to connect rods and make different shapes. After testing it out, we set to work to make a bridge that would span a 1.5m gap and which would hold as many water bottles as possible. Most groups decided to use a triangular structure, since we were taught that a triangle is the strongest shape.
We had a couple of hours to complete our bridge and then we had to give a short presentation about it and why we chose our particular structure. The bridge was then tested to see how much weight it could take. All the bridges were fantastic, but Team 1 won.
We also listened to two talks about the construction industry, which were very inspiring, and we were encouraged to thinking about joining the industry in the future. We all had an amazing day and were very thankful that we got to enjoy the experience.
Bella, Year 8