Garden Grove students win Model Bridge-Building competition

            GARDEN GROVE, Calif. ― Three students from Garden Grove
High School took home the top prize among 40 teams from 23 Southern California
schools in the annual Popsicle stick bridge competition sponsored by the
American Society of Civil Engineers.

            The team composed of
sophomores Michael McDonald Tran and Severin Zaluzec and junior Henry Quach
from the school’s Math, Engineering, Science Achievement (MESA) Club placed
first overall, winning a shared $1,000 scholarship in the challenging
competition held Feb. 17 at Cal State Long Beach. Garden Grove High has sent a
team to competition for the past three years and placed second last year.

            Entrants from Orange and
Los Angeles County high schools engineered model bridges from Popsicle sticks
held with white glue. Winners were determined by the weight of the load each
structure sustained before collapsing. The winning bridge entry from Garden
Grove High held 1,125 pounds of pressure.

            Participants also were
judged on a poster board, technical paper and oral presentation before three
engineers.

            Sunny Costello, a district math teacher on special
assignment, serves as the advisor to the Garden Grove High MESA Club.