How many pounds of pressure on a bridge built of Popsicle sticks and Elmer’s glue, itself weighing no more than 250 grams, bear before it breaks?

Two hundred seventy pounds, tops.

That’s what 106 students and some 150 spectators found out at the Sequim Education Foundation’s 2010 Engineering Challenge at the Sequim unit of the Boys & Girls Clubs of the Olympic Peninsula on Saturday.

Students in three divisions won scholarship money and cash prizes for building the sturdiest bridges.

Results were not ready Sunday for the elementary school division, in which 56 students competed, said Dick Hughes, president of the education foundation. Those results will be announced later this week.

But results were available for the high school and middle school divisions.

Top winners

The winner in the high school division, in which nine competed, was a team of Sequim High School students: Emily Madsen, Nicole Masaukay and Caitlin Pallai, who built a bridge that held 270 pounds of pressure before cracking under the strain.

The three students will split a $1,000 scholarship from the Sequim Education Foundation.

Melissa Copeland took first place in the middle school division, which had 41 competitors. Her bridge withstood 150 pounds of pressure before it couldn’t take any more.

She won a $750 scholarship.

Another scholarship also was awarded to the second-place finisher in the middle school division. Peter Ohnstad won a $500 scholarship.

Three scholarships will be awarded in the elementary school division: first place, $500; second place, $250; third place, $100, Hughes said.

Cash prizes were awarded, as well. First place received $25; second place, $20; third place $15; and fourth place $10.

The bridges were tested for the amount of pressure they could take from a hand-pumped dynamometer before cracking.

The score for each bridge was the “strength factor” computed through a combination of the weight of the bridge and the load at the breaking point.

The bridge built by the first-place high school team had a strength factor of 1.0861. The strength factor of Copeland’s bridge was 0.6237. It was 0.5880 for Ohnstad’s bridge.

Other winners

Also placing in the high school division were:

• Second place — Holly Hudson, strength factor of 0.5468.

• Third place — Michael Cullinan, 0.5385.

• Fourth place — Dylan Foxlee, of 0.3575.

In the middle school division, other results were:

• Third place — David Torgerson, 0.5860

• Fourth Place — Tararin Nikomborirak, 0.5668

Although 196 students had registered for the challenge, not all showed up the day of competition, Hughes said.

Chairman of the event was Walter Johnson.

Boys & Girls Club volunteer Stephen Rosales served as master of ceremonies.

Through grants to teachers for projects, scholarships and events such as the engineering challenge and an April film fest, the Sequim Education Foundation hopes to fire up students about learning.

“Part of the reason for this program is to encourage them to think about going to college,” Hughes said.

The education foundation holds the scholarships for students until they have graduated from high school and have been accepted to a college, Hughes said.

“We want to inspire them,” he said.

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Managing Editor/News Leah Leach can be reached at 360-417-3531 or leah.leach@peninsuladailynews.com.