WEST LAFAYETTE, Indiana — Teams from Clinton High School’s Advanced STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) and AP physics classes recently competed and had a successful outing in the 45th annual Purdue Bridge Bust competition hosted by the student chapter of Purdue University American Society of Civil Engineers.

A total of 84 teams participated in this year’s competition and Clinton’s student teams won two of three events and placed other teams in the top 10 of the “highly challenging” competition, a news release from Clinton Community Schools and high school teacher Ron Schaffner, said.

Schools from Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Ohio and Kentucky fielded teams and took part in the load bearing, aesthetics and design divisions of the competition.

The event was held at the Purdue Lyles School of Civil Engineering and involved three competitive aspects of building a balsa wood bridge: load bearing efficiency, aesthetics of design and construction, and a presentation of research and structural design components.

Highlighting the Clinton performance with a win in the load bearing competition was the 2-person team of Keian Ackley and Carter Daugherty. Equally impressive, the release said, was the first-place finish in aesthetics and a third-place finish in load bearing by the 2-person team of Quinn Walden and Teagan Zbikowski. The two teams won prize money for their first and third place finishes, the release said.

Ava VanTuyle was tied with multiple teams for the second highest score in the aesthetics competition. In the design presentation, the team of Camdenne Kruse and Alex Packer finished in fourth place, while the team of Ackley and Daughtery came in ninth.

“The teams are grateful to the Clinton Community Schools district for its continued support of STEM education and academic competitions,” the release said. “… Clinton students used research and 2-D and 3-D bridge design/test software to identify an efficient model, then constructed multiple test bridges before completing their final bridges that traveled with them to West Lafayette for the event.”

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Schaffner, who teaches a bevy of science classes including AP chemistry, AP physics and mechanics, trigonometry and AP calculus, is no stranger to taking successful student teams to STEM competitions around the country. His hands-on, minds-on classroom atmosphere — as credited by district teachers and administrators — allows students to blossom.

He developed Clinton’s first STEM class more than six years ago with two students. That grew into the STEAM Center — the “A” stands for arts — which provides an indoor laboratory with a portable pool facility for the district’s SeaPerch Underwater Robotics Competition Team, which he also launched. Schaffner’s students also participate in an innovative vehicle design competition.

More: Clinton teacher Ron Schaffner named Michigan High School Science Teacher of the Year

In 2022, Schaffner was named the Michigan High School Teacher of the Year by the Michigan Science Teachers Association, one year after being recognized as the Region 2 MiSTEM Educator of the Year.

— Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: twitter.com/LenaweeHeineman.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Clinton High School teams earn victories in Purdue Bridge competition