The Learning Centre held its ever-popular Bridge Building Contest on November 4, 1998. The premise of the contest is simple: construct a bridge using nothing but pasta and carpenter's glue, and build it so that it is as light as possible and is capable of supporting the greatest amount of weight, relative to it's own weight.

As always, the event was attended by a large crowd whose enthusiasm was more than matched by that of the many contestants. The winning entry, constructed by Xuan Huang and Han-Ho Huang, (both of Science Plus) weighing in at a mere 190 grams, succeeded in supporting a weight of 27.131 kilos for an astounding (and, we believe, a Vanier record-setting) efficiency ratio of 142.8. Physics teacher Mike Cowan explained that such a ratio would be equivalent to a man weighing 100 kilos (220 lbs.) being able to support 14,280 kilos! (Over 15 tons.)

The following people were all involved in the planning and execution of this year's contest: Academic Dean David Johnson, Mike Cowan, Hode Erdogan and Donna Tolmatch, official contest judges; Steve Rosenfield and Jacqui Paull of the Mathematics Department, who made sure all measurements and other numeric scores were accurate; Mimi Cooper, who for another year was our able MC for the occasion; Judy Macdonald, Doug Miller and Joanne Ellis of The Learning Centre, principle event organizers; and a special thanks to John Lynch of the Service Department for his amazing tables!

We'd like to thank Bombardier Aersopace for their generous support of this contest. The contestants appreciated Bombardier's generous prizes. Finally, we want to thank all the student contestants who put so much time and effort into their entries, as well as all our student volunteers who are so integral in the organization of an event of this magnitude. We now invite you to view some photos of this year's contest.