Here's an example of what the students and bridges looked like. I was plesantly surprised to see a number of Lynyrd Skynyrd t-shirts and one bridge was painted like the album cover of The Dark Side of the Moon. I told them they got bonus points from this judge! (Classic rock will always be in style!)
Students from around the Puget Sound make bridges out of white glue and Popsicle sticks. Then they compete against each other to see who's bridge can withstand the most weigh/pressure. It's put in a machine that pushes on the bridge until is fails. The top bridge withstood something close to a 1,000 pounds! That's what white glue and some good joints will get you!
We were "technical judges"...and, yes, we use the term "technical" very loosely. Here's Aaron at the Judges table. Our job was to take the measurements of the bridge and say whether the bridge met the qualifications. If it did not mean the rules then the students had the option to try and fix it. Everyone else at the table are people who work on my bridge project.
The emcees make it fun for all the high schoolers and their little brothers and sisters (note the clown nose). They did a lot of jokes and quizzes and prize give aways. They did a great job of keeping everyone engaged. Below is the machine that squished the bridges until they broke.
You can see that judging can be very nerve racking!!! 
We had a GREAT time and we'll likely do it again next year.
Now, go back a week and a few days ago and you'd find Aaron in the studio working around the clock (and we're not kidding...like all day and all night) on his "over the top piece". Here's what it looked like -
...and here's what Aaron looked like.
Just in the nic-of-time Aaron dropped of the piece for the show. They did an amazing job of displaying it and the opening was crazy-fun. The place was hopping and there was lots of good energy. Here's Aaron putting the over-the-top piece on his model.
And here's the model. She did a fabulous job. She said it felt comfortable, which was a real bonus.
Finally, here's the crown gathering around to take a closer look. That might be my favorite shot of the day.
Now Aaron is catching up on his back-log and I'm starting to ramp up on the brain cancer walk.
