Toothpicks, glue, string and optimism

For 20 years, Bruce Pap has built bridges with his young students as they watched bridges made of toothpicks collapse. Then, 11 months ago, a real bridge collapsed. And suddenly, today's "bridge breaking" ceremony at Summer Academy has taken on a new meaning.

"I couldn't have told you what a gusset plate was before last summer," Alex Olds, 9, of Shoreview, said Wednesday. "But we've all seen what happened to the [Interstate] 35W bridge, and we were going to make sure that nothing like that could happen to the bridges we've built."

There are no gusset plates in any of the 10 bridges built during the past three weeks by 21 students at Summer Academy -- just toothpicks, string and Elmer's Glue. Yet these miniature bridges have offered these kids an intellectual platform, a connection to a world they had only read or heard about during the months after the collapse of the I-35W bridge.

Located on the Columbia Heights High School campus, Summer Academy offers a three-week program for students primarily in the north metro area who have been identified for gifted-talented programming in their school district. This class, about what makes a strong bridge, is called "The Weight of It All."

Pap, 52, who has taught science and physics at the junior-high level for 28 years, is a closet architect, who has built decks and porches for others. But he is infatuated with bridges, said Mary Carlson Pap, Summer Academy's interim director and Bruce's wife. And that passion has spilled into the classroom.

Over the years, Pap has had Dan Dorgan, state bridge engineer, speak to his classes. This year, the Minnesota Department of Transportation has provided kits describing the construction of the new I-35W bridge for each student. The kids have been invited to attend one of the regular Saturday morning tours overlooking the bridge site.

For some of these kids, "The Weight of It All" has been more about the wait. After more than two weeks of architectural designs, managing budgets, buying materials, building bridges and surrounding buildings, the big moment has arrived.

Each of the toothpick bridges rests on a cardboard foundation with a rectangular hole under the center of the structure. A weight, fastened by string to the bridge, will be dropped through the hole. If the bridge survives, more weight will be added. The bridge that takes the most weight before collapsing wins a certificate -- and a package of M&M's.

"Get as many triangles into the design as you can; triangles don't crush," said Graham Fiebiger, 11, of Shoreview.

"I was thinking about designing our bridge like the 35W bridge," said Joey Pardo, 9, of Oakdale.

"No," said his partner, Troy Schuebel, 10, of Oakdale. "That bridge collapsed."

Gabrielle Kennedy, 9, of Roseville, and Nida Kahn, 8, of Blaine, said they used the Hennepin Avenue bridge as a model.

"He wants to study engineering," Kylie said. "Maybe he'll build bridges."

Could anything he might build compare to her bridge? Her partner, Mary Heinks, 11, of New Brighton, offered an answer.

"Of course, it's going to collapse," she said of their bridge. "It's made of toothpicks!"

Paul Levy • 612-673-4419