WCA Engineering Students Sweep Competition

By Evie Fordham

Two girls in bright pink Wake Christian shirts hovered over the model bridge they had created from nothing but popsicle sticks, bolts, and washers — would it hold?

Michelle Whitlock and Georgia Yeargin, two rising ninth graders, had taken Wendy Willis’ engineering class their eighth grade year at Wake Christian Academy, and they recently participated in an engineering camp at Wake Technical Community College.

The girls formed a two-person team during the camp competitions and went up against almost ten other teams of the same size. Michelle and Georgia competed by building three things: a dam, which had to hold back a gallon of water and feature a water overflow mechanism, a roof, which had to shield the house beneath it from two liters of water, and the aforementioned bridge.

The girls’ bridge held up a whopping fifty-five pounds, all without any kind of glue, and they were overjoyed to win first place. Their bridge supported a full ten pounds more than the second place bridge.

But the girls didn’t stop with just one win. Their dam placed second and their roof took first. Michelle’s father, David Whitlock, stated that “we saw direct examples of how [Wendy Willis’] instruction has benefited our kids.”

Michelle and Georgia are two shining examples of the learning that takes place in engineering class. Congrats, girls!