Sacramento State’s civil engineering students won this year’s Structural Engineers Association of Central California student design competition.

The association seeks out different universities to participate in this event all over central California. Sac State, Chico State and University of Pacific were the three schools that participated in the 17th annual event.

The first part of the competition was held at Wallace Kuhl & Associates, Inc. on Nov. 1, while the awards banquet was held on Nov. 11.

The competition was a two-part event. First the students had to design what they were to build and then they had build their design.

The structure that the students were asked to build was a small-scale wooden bridge. They were given materials such as nails, bolts, connect plates, eight 92-inch stud boards and 2×4 compost boards.

The students were not allowed to prepare for the event in any way. All the planning was done on the day of the competition.

Assistant professor of civil engineering Benjamin Fell contacted the students who he thought would both learn and benefit from this competition.

“I assembled students who I thought would work well, who are good leaders, good communicators and good students,” Fell said.

The group’s chemistry was seen throughout the competition with their work ethic, Fell said.

“They just had to show up and go for it; it was very dynamic. There was a lot of team work. It was exciting because they just had to show up and perform,” Fell said.

Sac State team captain Christine Jansen, senior civil engineering major, said the teams were given very few materials to work with.

“Part of the challenge was to have limited materials in order to do this project,” Jansen said.

Jansen said that she is constantly involved in civil engineering projects and that she enjoys every minute of it.

“I was really stoked to do it. I love hands-on stuff, and I was happy to be with a group of people who knew what they were doing,” Jansen said.

Team member Jesse Ogren, junior civil engineering major, was a great asset to the team, Jansen said, because he was very handy with the wood.

“I have done a lot of construction work in the past with my dad, so I guess it just came natural to me,” Ogren said.

Other members of the team include Zachary Craig, Joel Schaffer and Josh Wagner.

Ogren and Jansen say that their team worked very well together to get the project done.

“We all had good ideas. We broke out in different groups of two teams and worked together within those groups,” Ogren said.

On Nov. 2 the structures from each of the teams were taken to Chico where they were tested for their durability.

A machine that applies force on the structures was used to make sure that the bridge was correctly made.

A panel of judges, made up of practicing engineers, looked over the teams’ structures. Not only were they looking for durability but uniqueness as well.

Many of the team members said they use these opportunities to network with fellow civil engineers.

“For me, I am about to graduate and it is a great networking feel,” Jansen said. “You learn information quickly and have fun. You apply things that you have learned but hadn’t yet put into practice, in action,” she said.

On Nov. 11 the teams were invited to an awards banquet where they were to give a five-minute presentation on their structures. Following the presentation, the judges decided who won the first place prize.

Jansen said that the Sac State group was the only group to use bolts. Ogren said that the judges said that the group’s structure was unique.

Sac State received $1,300 for taking first place in the competition.

The team members have not yet decided what was to become of the reward, Fell said.

“We have left it up to the team to see how they want to reinvest the money into the program. It may be used as a scholarship opportunity or as an investment into the program fund,” Fell said.

The group still needs to talk as to how the money will be used, Jansen said.

“We are thinking a scholarship but we need to get together as a group to discuss it,” she said.

Emir Macari, dean of the College of Engineering and Computer Science, said the students did this competition without even getting any class points or participation.

“(The students) worked without any college credit. They took this on as a challenge,” Macari said.

Macari said competitions like this ensure that civil engineering students get to experience practical applications of what they are learning.

“We want to make sure our students strive for this opportunity (practicing civil engineering). We want them to go to high schools to showcase their designs and let the high schoolers know how cool it is to study civil engineering here at Sac State,” Macari said.

Sac State civil engineering students are hard workers, Macari said.

“A great thing about Sac State civil engineering students is that they have a can-do experience and are able to unite both practical and theoretical work,” Macari said.

Ogren hopes to participate in the contest in the future.

“I cannot wait to do it again next semester,” Ogren said.

Vanessa Johnson can be reached at [email protected]