My Bridge Building Experience by Nathan

My Bridge Building Experience by Nathan - October 2019 Scholarship Essay

There I was, shaking his hand, one of the most accomplished men in his fields, I felt like I was on top of the world. How did I get here? Well it started with a piece of basswood, and an idea.

It was late January, and it was almost bridge building time. I liked it last year, but we didn’t get a whole lot of time to construct them, so the bridges didn’t turn out very well. And I was a freshman in High School, so I did NOT have any experience. This being my sophomore year, I was curious to see what the specifications were this year, since they change. The details did finally come out, and we started building, much earlier than last year, so I decided that I at least wanted to make a test bridge or two to see where I was at. Eventually, I built my test bridge, and was eager to see the results that followed.

The bridge crusher, the SSA 1,000 (short for structural stress analyzer) crushed my first test bridge, and I thought it did OK. I calculated the efficiency of it and showed my engineering teacher. He took the paper that listed the regional results the year prior and he just kind of stared at it for a second, and handed it to me. The List was top 20, all in efficiency order. My eyes climbed up the list, and finally braked between second and third. That’s exactly where mine would have gone. I was very surprised to say the least, and I made a commitment. I decided not only to try and win it, but help others along the way.

Then came the night of the regional that year, hosted by Kent State Tuscarawas, and they advertised everywhere that first and second place went on to compete internationally in Chicago that year. I was super excited and nervous all at the same time. My bridge did eventually win and I came to the realization that I always wanted to know how people got to where I was at right that second. How do you get to where I was standing? I had finally done it. With the right mindset and a lot of hard work, you can do anything.

But it didn’t stop there. After the regional in 2018, I went to Chicago to compete in the International competition, in which I learned about other people and how they got to where I was at. I now had a broader sense of where I came from, and where other people came from, all knitted together in a nice little bow. I went on to place 34th in the world that year, I still get butterflies thinking about walking into the physics department of Illinois Institute of Technology.

The next year, in the regional competition, I shared even more of my information to my peers, giving them tips in hopes that they would do better. I went on to place first at the regional, giving me another ticket to the international competition. This time it was at Johns-Hopkins University, in which I went on to improve to 12th in the world. But there was one thing I forgot to do: shake the founder’s hand. He was the one that started the event some decades ago, and it would be an honor to meet him. After the testing had ceased, I walked over to him, placed my hand out and there I was, shaking his hand, one of the most accomplished men in his fields, I felt like I was on top of the world.