About 400 high school students expected for enginerring contest Bridge building takes skill and planning and know-how, especially when all you have to work with is Elmer's glue and balsa wood. About 400 students from 26 high schools in Kansas and Missouri are expected for the event. Schools will be divided into two classes based on whether enrollment in the top three grades is fewer or more than 700 students.
Students build the bridges at their high schools before the competition.
They are allowed to use only Elmer's glue and balsa wood, and the bridges must conform to certain criteria. Weights will be applied until the bridge begins to yield. The scholastic tournament tests students in introductory and advanced mathematics, chemistry and physics. The mathematics tests are administered at the high schools. The chemistry and physics tests will be administered at the Big Eight, Jayhawk and Kansas rooms and Alderson Auditorium in the Kansas Union.