PRESEC Legon Wins 2017 Bridge Engineering Challenge

Presbyterian Boys Senior High School (PRESEC), Legon, has emerged winners of the 2017 edition of the Model Bridge Contest, an initiative organised by Knight Piesold (KP) Consulting, an engineering firm.

The Contest on the theme: “Building Bridges- Connecting People,” challenged science departments of senior high schools (SHS) to design a model bridge for construction, using wood, strings and glue.

Other participating schools were Achimota SHS, Accra Girls SHS, Aburi Girls SHS and Nungua SHS.

Achimota SHS who placed second, followed by Accra Girls SHS in third position, Aburi Girls SHS fourth and Nungua SHS taking the fifth position.

PRESEC, the winning school received a projector, a projector screen and a laminator, whiles the second took away a projector and a projector screen, the third had a 40inch Plasma television (TV) set and a laminator, fourth grabbed a 40inch Plasma tv whereas, fifth received a 30inch Plasma TV.

Activities that marked the competition were a bridge display by schools, presentation and demonstration by schools, overview of bridge building rules, bridge inspection and testing by judges, and finally the presentation of awards.

Prior to the contest, the participating students were briefed on the preparation of a model bridge as such; marks were awarded based on bridge efficiency, aesthetics, design and record, and creativity.

Speaking to the Ghana News Agency (GNA), Mr Jeffrey Coffin, Regional Manager for KP Consulting, West Africa, said the programme was in line with the company’s vision of providing skills training for the youth.

He said as part of the Company’s Corporate Social Responsibility, KP Consulting was dedicated to support the educational sector and so decided to highlight civil engineering based on the level of participants.

He further stated that as engineers, it was important to explain to the youth how they use the knowledge acquired in school, to make the world a better place.

Mr Coffin told GNA that the initiative involved team work, understanding roles within the team, thinking through and solving problems, and developing concepts, which portrays what engineering is all about.

He noted that with this year’s edition even though all participating schools had access to information; each school came up with innovative and different designs.

Mr Coffin, who lauded the unique skills showcased by the participating schools, again revealed that with subsequent editions, there would be a need to put more design constraints on the bridge building; which according to him would further challenge the students to be more creative.

Madam Ama Nketiah, the Senior Project Engineer at KP Consulting, also told GNA that the company wanted to reach out to the next generation of engineers and teach them about the fundamentals of civil engineering.

She noted that the participating students had had their capacity enhanced to actualize the many dimensions of science learned in class into a practical civil engineering design.

“The initiative since its introduction has received positive feedbacks and would therefore encourage participating students to pursue varies engineering programmes in the universities,” she added.

Source: GNA