[Featured Image: The winners of Carbone’s Spaghetti Bridge Engineering competition pose with their awards. Pictured Left to Right: Ian Merendino, William Crites, Mrs. Cheryl Harper, Christopher Writt]

   51 pounds, 6 ounces – that was how much it took to break a pasta bridge constructed by three GS juniors at Carbone’s annual Pasta Engineering competition.

  “You have to build a bridge that’s a meter long at least, under a kilogram, and the goal is to get the bridge to hold as much weight as possible before it ultimately breaks,” junior William Crites, one of the three winners, said.

  On March 12th, Crites and his two teammates, Ian Merendino and Christopher Writt, were just one of 23 teams from all over western PA that crowded into St. Vincent University’s Fred Rogers Hall. Each team carried with them a bridge they constructed out of spaghetti and lasagna. Each bridge was tested to its limits, and the weight it held was listed as the team’s score.

  The trio of juniors were the last to put their bridge to test, and took the win by almost 10 whole pounds. Juniors Scott Armentrout and Peter Mica, whose bridge looked set to take second with 41 lbs 6 oz, still took a third place trophy home.

Armentrout and Mica pose alongside physics teacher Mrs. Cheryl Harper with their medals and third place trophy. Photo by: Julius McBride

  Carbone’s only gives awards to the three strongest bridges (plus one for aesthetics), but all of the GS teams did well. Second place may have eluded them, but every GS bridge held at least 20 lbs. It pays to be knowledgeable in modern bridge design and material science.

  “Obviously, there’s a lot of physics behind it,” senior Peter Laskoski said. “We spent weeks studying structural design of bridges in real life and what makes a good solid bridge.”

  Laskoski’s team didn’t place in the top three, but its bridge held a respectable 27 lbs 8 oz, enough to top well over half of their competition.

  At the beginning, there were plenty of choices to make and designs to pick. Trusses, cables, suspension wires, as well as basic aspects such as shape and size were all considerations for the competitors. However, Crites, Merendino and Writt knew what they wanted.

Wooden blocks hold the spokes in place as the glue sets. Photo by: Jules McBride

   “We chose the arch bridge,” Crites recounted. “Since all the weight was load-bearing in only the center of the bridge, and there was no need to have the weight distributed evenly, the arch-bridge was structurally the most sound.”

  Crites was referring to the fact that the testing weights aren’t put on the bridge itself, but are added to a bucket that is hung on a hook at the center of the bridge’s base. This means that the team didn’t need to design a bridge optimized to hold weight along its entire length, just at its center.

  “Our entire class modeled their bridges after practically the same design,” Laskoski said. “We modeled our bridge after previous designs that our school has done that have won in the past.”

  In recent years, the arch design has proven its effectiveness by dominating the competition. The record holding bridge to date clocked in at an astounding 109 pounds. That legendary bridge used a large number of “cables,” just one noodle thick, to help to distribute the weight over a sturdy arch. This year, the top three teams attempted the simple design, hoping to reap the benefits. But of course, just because the design was simple does not mean it was easy to build.

  “One of the issues was making sure the arches were as symmetrical as possible,” Crites said.

  To build the most symmetrical bridge they could, Crites’ team used a variety of tools, including placing a frame of nails in a board to curve the arches just right. The entire way through, the trio used careful measurements, precise gluing and teamwork.

  “We had to come up with the best possible idea,” Crites noted. “Usually Ian would come up with the first idea, then Chris and I would revise that. Then we’d all three come to an understanding on how to address the issue.”

  Even when the various hurdles of building the bridges were jumped, getting the structures to St. Vincent was still a challenge. And remember, they’re made out of spaghetti.

  “We were nervous the bridge was going to break just walking through the door,” Laskoski said. “That was probably the most nervous I was.”

  Before their various other design choices were put to the test, each competing bridge was given a display spot in the Fred Rogers Hall. Each of the 23 unique bridges, traditional and hybrid, painted and unpainted, all sat on tables throughout the hall. Spectators could indulge in refreshments and admire the design of every bridge, while competitors could scope out their competition. Meanwhile, every bridge was weighed, measured and inspected by the moderators to ensure it followed the specifications laid down months earlier. GS teams made sure to keep an eye on the other arch bridges.

  “It was kind of nerve-wracking walking around, seeing the other bridges,” Laskoski said. “There were definitely some well-designed bridges from other schools that gave us a run for our money.”

   It shouldn’t come as a surprise that building a bridge out of dry spaghetti is not easy. If a bridge isn’t properly fortified, small asymmetries can make a bridge twist, lean or buckle unexpectedly under enough weight. Thus, during the competition, minor mistakes could quickly become major concerns. Competitors are sure to watch for even small issues every step of the way.

  “In the end, it just comes down to good joints and good symmetry,” Crites said.

  According to Laskoski, their bridge would have done much better if not for one small oversight.

  “The bridge worked as planned,” he said confidently. “From a structural point of view, the arch was pretty well done. The downfall was that we overlooked a very, very tiny detail in our bridge.”

  Laskoski’s team noticed early on that their base wasn’t completely level. In his own words, the issue ended up being “makeshift” taken care of, but not properly fixed.

  “When we looked at the footage, that was exactly where our bridge broke,” he said.

  Crites, Merendino and Writt had better luck. They were the last team to bring their bridge up, and had a brief mishap with the scale before clocking in at 51 lbs 6 oz, surpassing the standing winner by almost 10 pounds.

  The number scored by the team of junior boys is certainly impressive, but less than half of the standing record. So then what was it that stopped them from getting any higher?

  “It worked as planned,” Crites said. “Everything was going well with our bridge. Until…”

  Crites’ team had the same adversary as Laskoski’s team: the base.

  “We didn’t make our base long enough, so the bridge didn’t break the way it was supposed to,” Crites explained. “The amount of weight caused it to flex, and it just slid off the side.”

Laskoski (center) and his teammate Colin Bashline (left) prepare to glue down the load-bearing spokes onto their arches. Merendino and Writt (right) work in the background. Photo by: Jules McBride

But a victory is a victory, and despite their shortcomings, Crites and Laskoski were both glad they were able to participate and grateful for the conceptual science in Honors Modern Physics.

“I think in that part of HMP, we learned a lot,” Crites said. “I mean, I didn’t know anything about tension or compression beforehand.”

Laskoski didn’t think they would have made it without HMP either.

“Not just anybody can pick up a pile of spaghetti and some hot glue and make a bridge that can hold even five pounds,” Laskoski chuckled. “Or one pound.”

  And that’s true. A handful of teams from other schools walked away with a score around two or three pounds. Sadly, a few teams even got a score of zero.

  “You have to have some conceptual knowledge of what you’re doing to even attempt to make a bridge out of pasta,” Laskoski added. “We learned a lot about bridges and forces and tension prior to building the bridges. This is just kind of an added on project that Mrs. Harper does for us so we get some experience with forces and tension.”

 Crites and Laskoski both agree that Carbone’s Pasta Bridge competition fits within the Honors Modern Physics curriculum. Though bridges may not be as exclusively modern as particle physics – a subject covered in the same class – bridge physics is obviously still relevant.

  “Obviously, we’re still going to be building bridges in the future,” Crites said. “So it’s good to learn and I would consider [the competition] a part of Honors Modern Physics because it encompasses many of the aspects of modern physics that we still use today.”

   [Featured image: Seniors…? Poses with their ribbons, trophies, and WIRC plaque. (Left to right, top down:  Jessica Prentice, Janelle Hayward, Grant Hoffer, Jesse Quatse, Melissa Paravate, Maria Mlinarchak, Claire Simpson, Shannon Brady, Elizabeth O’Neal, Gillian Perez), Photo Courtesy: Claire Simpson]

   Last week, six months of reading and preparation paid off at the Westmoreland Interscholastic Reading Competition (WIRC), where Seniors…?, a GS team, took first place.

  WIRC is a quiz-bowl style competition hosted at Seton Hill University where teams compete to get the most questions right. Teams, usually more than one per school, compete in rounds where each team is paired against another team. When the dust settles and the day is over, whoever has the highest total score wins the competition. The structure is simple. The subject matter is not.

  “I haven’t been to a competition yet, so I can’t say too much about it, but the thought that we read a lot of books is definitely true,” senior Kane Claflin said the week beforehand.

  Competitors face the challenge of remembering details of the content, plot and characters of 30 books preselected by the high school librarian, Mrs. Carrie Vottero.  

  From his year of reading, Claflin maintained that WIRC is all that it seems: reading, reading and reading. This is Claflin’s first year, but he has friends who have participated in WIRC for four years, including a chunk of his team, The Good Guys, who snagged the sixth place spot this year.

  “The reason that we started our team is because of Claire Simpson’s team, and so I think they’re our biggest competitor,” he chuckled.

  Simpson was a member of this year’s winning team: Seniors…?. Simpson herself was unable to schedule an interview, but her teammates, seniors Janelle Hayward and Jessica Prentice, were able to speak about their involvement.

  “I think a lot of people think it’s boring, but I like it,” Prentice said. “It’s fun to go to Seton Hill for a day,”

WIRC’s exclusive shelf and its rapidly cycled books. Photo by: Jules McBride

 “Seniors…?” was the chosen name for Hayward, Prentice and Simpson’s team because of their mostly senior team members. Regardless of grade, they were all eager to compete.

  “It’s always fun to geek out,” Hayward added. “We have a blast when we’re there.”

  Both Hayward and Prentice enthusiastically agreed that competition day was a holiday for them, but ceded that some of this year’s books dragged. Not all of them are fiction, and some, like The Kingdom of Little Wounds, are a hefty 500 pages.

  “Usually a lot of them are enjoyable, but this year they’re few and far between,” Hayward said.

  Hayward praised The Serpent King, and Prentice said that The Sun is Also a Star was the only book she enjoyed. But there were not a lot of books up their alley this time around.

  “There’s a lot of nonfiction this year,” Prentice groaned.

  As aforementioned, the book selection, as well as a myriad of other tasks, is done by Mrs. Vottero and Mrs. Debbie Kozuch, the GSMS librarian.

  “[Mrs. Kozuch and I] receive the registrations from the different teams from all over Western Pennsylvania,” Vottero began, listing their duties. “We have to create a schedule for them to compete against each other, we have to reserve the facility, Seton Hill University, be in constant contact with the people there, set up the cafeteria….”

  Many students do not realize the hours the librarians put into WIRC. Across the middle and high school divisions, almost 1,000 students compete every year. Of course, all of these students need buses and slots on the schedule, not to mention lunch at Seton Hill. The logistics of all of these things and more fall squarely on the librarians’ shoulders.

Mrs. Vottero sorting the certificates, ribbons, and trophies to be awarded at the competition. Photo by: Jules McBride

 “You have to have the space organized,” she continued. “You have to do the scoring of the event, you have to write the questions….”

  Vottero is always enthusiastic about the event, but when it comes down to it, she’d rather spend time helping her students manage their team and organize practices to increase GS’s fighting chance rather than hosting the competition.

  “Greensburg Salem has six teams this year that really deserve their own coach,” she said. “I don’t get to spend nearly enough time being that coach to them because I’m running the actual event.”

  Vottero believes GS students are disadvantaged because librarians at neighboring districts have the opportunity that she doesn’t: getting to read and practice alongside their teams.

  “I feel bad about it all the time,” she said. “I wish I had more time to prep and question [the teams], and have pretend contests and see how prepared [they] are.”

  However, Hayward and Prentice don’t feel necessarily disadvantaged.

  “We’re doing our own thing, you know?” Hayward said. “We just have to do what’s best for us, and [Mrs. Vottero’s] coaching may or may not mold with our strategies.”

  The pair both competed in WIRC at the middle school, where Mrs. Kozuch regularly quizzed teams on certain books. They agreed that Mrs. Kozuch’s questioning definitely helped, but were skeptical of any impact beyond that.

  “I don’t know if we’d need it,” Prentice said.

  Because Vottero doesn’t coach, student teams become largely independent. According to the librarian, most of the teams prepare themselves for the competition to the best of their ability, and Vottero places “great faith” in the idea they will.

  And they do. Throughout the years, new approaches have been created or old ones tweaked by inventive student teams.

  “We try to get two or three people on each book, because if you only have one person on each book, the odds of them remembering for every single question are slim,” Hayward said. “We also like to do notecards on the day of the competition to prompt each other and get our minds running.”

   Seniors…? used a hand-drawn chart, while The Good Guys preferred an Excel spreadsheet, but both use the same concept: charting the books vs. who’s read them.

  “I’m in charge of most of the administrative things, like keeping track of the books that people have read, and making sure people get the money for our shirts and everything,” Claflin said.

  Of course, this isn’t a GS-only event. Dozens of schools participate every year, and a few quickly became “threats” in competitions past.

  “I want to say that Hempfield won the top three spots last year,” Vottero said. “First, second, and third place. Which – wow – that’s a really big deal.”

  According to Vottero, 39 teams competed this year – a typical number. Hempfield’s sweep of the leaderboard last year means that their wins haven’t been flukes, and GS students were ready to be diligent to keep up. For Seniors…?, that diligence clearly paid off, as Hempfield’s best team placed second.

  “Hempfield is usually the team to beat,” Hayward remarked before.

  GS readers were also watching out for DuBois Area, a more secluded central Pennsylvania school district. In the very first year DuBois participated in WIRC, they were hardly acknowledged, that is, until they trounced every team they played and won the competition. This year, they also placed high in the top ten.

 “I would love to see us take those top three spots this year,” Vottero said, almost predicting the future.

[Featured Image: Left to right, front: Audrey Johnson (Mary Poppins), Sarah Koebuck (Mrs. Corry), and Alex Podolinksi (Bert) finish off a dress rehearsal run of Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious! Photo credit: Charity McBride]  

As February wanes into March, the auditorium comes to life, and the 2018 cast of Mary Poppins will put on a show of many firsts to thrill the audience opening night.

The cast will take to the stage Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening and a Sunday matinee.

Aside from production details which are not allowed to be disclosed until the curtain opens, this year will be the first year where two non-high school students have a role in the show. Logan Lewis, who attends Metzgar Elementary, will play Michael Banks along with Ellie Swanson, who will play his sister Jane. It will be Lewis’ very first musical.

“I think I’m like Michael at the beginning,” Lewis said of his role. “I can be a cool kid, but sometimes a very nice kid.”

Lewis spoke positively of the musical, but noted that even his schedule was “crazy,” with musical rehearsal and trombone practice back-to-back on Tuesdays.

Even at the high school, many GS students have a similar attitude about their musical schedule.

“There’s no schedule other than musical,” laughed senior Audrey Johnson, who will play Mary Poppins. “Essentially, when I’m not at rehearsal, I’m sleeping or eating.”

The name Audrey Johnson may ring a bell, as she was crowned Homecoming Queen this year. Freshman Owen Johnson (unrelated), a chimney sweep, made similar comments to Audrey.

“I usually go home, do homework, eat dinner, then come here [to rehearsal],” Owen said.

Audrey Johnson pictured with Alex Podolinksi (Bert) during the iconic number Step in Time. Photo credit: Charity McBride

Owen and Audrey share more than a last name. They both have been in every musical they could since they were in 6th grade.

A lot of students in musical have this sort of streak. But this year, a few students found rehearsal schedule to be too challenging, and caused a stir when they quit. Three of them had roles with lines and/or singing parts. Sophomore Autumn Fink, formerly the Bird Lady, was one of them.

“Sometimes I just wanted to go home and rest,” Fink said.

According to Fink and pretty much everyone involved, preparations for this year’s show have been rigorous. The later practices are usually long and hard, but this year, the various special effects, multiple costumes per person, the presence of two fifth graders in the cast, the stage crew playing car-sized tetris with an abnormally large number of set pieces, and the show’s various dance styles all had the cast busy and the directors busier. For this reason, Production Director Mrs. Sue Glowa was unable to schedule an interview to contribute to this article.

“In middle school they would have this specific group of people go, and [they’ll] work on you the entire time,” Fink said. “I felt it was better that way.”

Audrey, who also worked on the middle school’s stage crew, felt that the middle school musical schedule was more regimented, whereas the high school’s directors have a difference in style, and prefer to “finesse it.” She considered it a minor detail.

“The costuming is really the biggest difference,” she said. “All the [middle school] costumes are hand-made, and they’re really particular about how you look. Here, they’re more concerned about sounding good rather than looking good.”

Audrey striking an authoritative pose during the more sinister Playing the Game. Owen Johnson, pictured directly below (obscured by wig), plays one of the toys. Photo Credit: Charity McBride

At the middle school, all the music is taken from pre-recorded tracks, so as a freshman, Owen was excited for the live music at the show. After his first night working with them, he relishes what the pit adds to the show.

“I really like that we can change the tempo and be more lenient with timings and stuff,” he said.

Owen, whose first high school musical will be this year, noted that the atmosphere is different from the middle school.

“The people here [in musical] seem more interested in the musical,” he said.

The freshman dancer’s thoughts are reflected by the number of cast members who agree it’s worth the tough schedule. The first perk that Audrey mentioned was being able to “connect with the audience,” but she also knows a lot about the value of music education, as she wrote her senior research paper on the subject.

“There’s a term called ‘transfer,’ which means when you succeed in one thing, it can help you succeed in another thing,” she said.

Actors not only need to learn how to focus onstage, but their spatial awareness needs to be refined. An actor must keep in mind the location of the audience, other actors, props, set pieces, etc. In addition to this, one run may differ from another, and adjusting usually demands critical thinking and creativity. These skills are not only vital to performing onstage, but to performing in school.

“So if you’re able to learn music or dance, it could help you in your math class, per se,” she said.

According to Audrey, musical specifically could help in a more direct way.

“It can help your English; there are words in that show that I’ve never heard before,” Audrey said.

Most musicals portray historically accurate settings, or at least some historical elements. Because they are built poetically, lyrics sometimes contain uncommon words or phrases. This is especially true in the case of Mary Poppins, which rhymes excessively with the word that made it famous (precocious, halitosis, etc.) and has plenty of British words (promenade, miffed, gasworks, lummy, etc.).

Audrey emphasized that one does not have to be musically gifted; just being “musically participant” is enough to benefit from skill transfer.

Owen also said it was good to get involved. Musical, like all student activities, is another hobby students can use in their future.

Two crew members inspect for possible set changes a week prior to opening night. Photo By: Jules McBride

Even Fink encouraged students to participate.

“I’d just say give it a try,” she said. “If it’s something you would think you’d be interested in or you think you could become better from, then I would say to definitely give it a try. And if you don’t like it, it’s okay not to like it.”

Fink called Mary Poppins a “growing-up show,” as in it shows how the children, Jane and Michael, mature. It’s not just a show targeted at children. Mr. and Mrs. Banks go on their own emotional journey alongside the kids.

“In the beginning, Mr. Banks wants to love his family, but he’s unsure how to show it,” senior Dante Howard said of his role. “By the end, he understands how to truly love his wife and kids.”

Sophomore DeLaney Swank also commented on her character’s development, the mild Mrs. Banks.

“Winifred is caring and always tries to her best to take care of her husband and children,” Swank said. “As the show progresses, Mary Poppins and the children help Winifred realize that she has her own voice, and that she shouldn’t be afraid to use it.”

Eventually, all the characters – old and young – learn the values of life.

“Winifred is a wonderful and dynamic character that teaches an important lesson,” Swank said.

In other words, Mary Poppins is not exclusively a kids’ show.

“You can watch it as a kid and understand it,” Audrey said. “But an adult can watch it and understand it on a deeper level.”

Many of the musical kids are involved in other activities. Owen, along with a handful of other ensemble members, actively reads for WIRC, a competition that happens the Monday after opening weekend. Audrey holds the lead role but finds time for a myriad of things throughout the year. She is president of the SADD club, an SCA member, and teaches kids at her church on weekends.

Exhausted as they are, the cast overall cherishes being in Mary Poppins, and are optimistic about tackling opening night.

“Musical has been a wonderful experience, and I think there’s only one word to describe it, which is supercalifragilisticexpialidocious!” Audrey said, harkening her role.