Last week marked the 2011 National Engineers’ Week at Georgia Tech.  The GT chapter of Tau Beta Pi engineering society sponsored the events on campus. Students from all over campus came out to participate in activities ranging from a Rubik’s Cube contest to the annual E-Week dodgeball tournament.  Perhaps one of the most intense competitions took place on Wednesday, February 23 in the Student Success Center with the E-Week Skyscraper Contest.

Seven teams entered the E-Week Skyscraper Contest in hopes of constructing the highest, strongest tower out of marshmallows, toothpicks, and uncooked spaghetti noodles.  Each team had a maximum of 3.5 hours to complete its tower and build a structure to beat the rest in terms of height and weight-holding capacity.  In the heat of the competition, with only five minutes remaining before the judges called time, each team struggled to keep the lofty towers from collapsing.  At exactly 3:30pm, the competitors were required to let go of their creations and see whose structure would win the prize.  All but two of the towers buckled immediately, and the remaining two stood just long enough to take a measurement of height.  Whether the stale marshmallows or the brittle noodles were to blame, the competitors remained in good spirits throughout the competition and congratulated the victors on their winning design.