Here at Cherry Hill West, we have developed a tradition that has been going on for the past ten years. This tradition is what either makes or breaks your experience in physics. This tradition is, of course, the spaghetti bridge contest held by the physics classes.

In this competition, the objective is for students to construct a bridge that can have the highest ratio of the mass of the bridge to the mass said bridge can hold, made primarily out of spaghetti. This contest shows just how resourceful students can be with their limited materials and how well they can work in teams, unless they choose to be a lone wolf and bear the load themselves.

When it comes to working on the bridges and the time that is devoted to constructing such a masterpiece, Ms. Tan says that she’s “heard people say ‘everyone hates it while they’re doing it.’” This statement can be confirmed by Zack Horiates ‘17 and George Peasant IV ‘17, who have participated in the contest this year and had no issue in sharing part of their experience. Both students worked alone, which can sometimes make such a big process a lot more difficult. Zack attested to this, calling the work “very tedious,” but he expressed that he would try his hand at it again and probably do much better now that he knows how it works. George, on the other hand, said he definitely wouldn’t do it again, but it was an interesting experience.

This year’s spaghetti contest winners are Karen Therrien ‘16 and Michelle Le ‘16. We congratulate Karen and Michelle on their hard work and perseverance!