In celebration of National Engineers’ Week, The Citadel School of Engineering annually hosts its Engineering Fair for Lowcountry Students. The event is designed to expose Lowcountry middle and high school students to fundamental math and science principles for understanding engineering issues and methods.

           This year’s fair attracted more than 200 students, parents and teachers from Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties. Highlights included a robotics competition, a model bridge competition and Electrical Engineering student poster displays.

           In its second year, the Lego robotics contest was a hit again this year among students. Participating were eight middle school teams, one high school team and nine cadet teams. The competition is a baseball game between two robots. One robot serves as a batter and other as an infielder. The batter hits the ball off of a tee and tries to navigate around the bases before the in-field robot finds the ball.

Robotics Competition Results

1st place: Team Ram from St. Stephen Middle School (Jasimine Mack and William Holmes)

2nd place: Team Ambush from Berkeley Middle School (DeAndre Reid, Joshua Williams and Everett Williams)

Best overall design: Team Solo from Berkeley Middle School (Samantha Webber)

The cadet winners were the Mach McGuires (Jon Kelly, Robert Gibbens, Greg Vitello and Ben Shotzberger).

           In the bridge competition, students built bridges using only craft sticks and carpenter’s wood glue. The competition tests bridges for strength to weight ratio by loading them at mid-span until they collapsed. The maximum load was divided by the bridge weight to determine students’ scores. Civil engineering cadets conducted the bridge. Awards were presented for maximum strength to weight ratio, maximum load and lightest bridge to hold minimum load of 2500 grams. Additional awards included most original design, most constructible and best craftsmanship.

Bridge Competition Results

MIDDLE SCHOOL DIVISION
Strength-to-Weight Ratio
1st place: Summerville Catholic, Darren Fox
2nd place: St. Stephen, Jason Glover
3rd place: Northwood Academy, Kim Filcek, Michelle Walter

Maximum Load (lbs)
1st place: Summerville Catholic, Darren Fox
2nd place: St. Stephen, Jason Glover
3rd place: Buist Academy, Jessica Tumulo

Lightest Bridge
1st place: Sedgefield, Caleb Page
2nd place: Marrington, James Alley
3rd place: Sedgefield, Peter Jerdan

Most Original Design
1st place: St. Stephen, Jason Glover
2nd place: Summerville Catholic, Preston Sherwood
3rd place: American, James Alley

Most Constructable
1st place: Buist Academy, Carlota Euffy, Hannah Herin
2nd place: Marrington, Vicky Lamore, Justine Baptiste
3rd place: Buist Academy, Jessica Tumulo

Best Craftsmanship
1st place: Buist Academy, Jessica Tumulo
2nd place: Marrington, Michael Sahr
3rd place: Marrington, Vicky Lamore, Justine Baptiste

High School Division
Strength-to-Weight Ratio
1st place: Timberland H.S., Durant Norton, Michael Gibbs
2nd place: Timberland H.S., Madison Gaskin, Ashley Walke
3rd place: Timberland H.S., Erica Whit

Maximum Load
1st place: Timberland H.S., Durant Norton, Michael Gibbs
2nd place: Timberland H.S., Erica White
3rd place: Timberland H.S., Madison Gaskin, Ashley Walker

Lightest Bridge (grams)
1st place: Ashley Hall, Virginia Herbert
2nd place: Timberland H.S., Whitney and Nicole Feagin
3rd place: Timberland H.S., Madison Gaskin, Ashley Walker

Most Original Design
1st place: Ashley Hall, Virginia Herbert
2nd place: West Ashley H.S., James Rayabl
3rd place: West Ashley H.S., Phillip Paggi

Most Constructable
1st place: Timberland H.S., Madison Gaskin, Ashley Walker
2nd place: West Ashley H.S., James Rayabl
3rd place: West Ashley H.S., Phillip Paggi

Best Craftsmanship
1st place: Ashley Hall, Virginia Herbert
2nd place: Timberland H.S., Brittany Holmes, Kevin Rhodes
3rd place: Timberland H.S., Madison Gaskin, Ashley Walker

           Senior project poster presentations made at the fair included a magnetic levitation train and a fire-detecting robot with 911-calling capabilities. Engineers from the S.C. Department of Transportation were present with an interactive display describing the design and construction of the new Cooper River bridge.

           The Citadel School of Engineering comprises the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering and the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering. The military college was actually the forerunner in engineering education in the state of South Carolina and fifth in the nation. Following the tradition of the other military academies, engineering has been a part of the college’s curriculum since its inception in 1842. The school of engineering is consistently ranked among the top schools in the country in U.S. News and World Report.  This year it was ranked 30th.

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