PMHS Students Among Top 20 In Bridge Contest

Story contributed by Patchogue-Medford School District.

Patchogue-Medford High School students built 13 out of the top 20 bridges in Brookhaven National Laboratory's 2013 Model Bridge Building Contest, including the top 9 places. Over 160 High School students from 10 Suffolk County schools entered the competition. Students had to design and build model basswood bridges with the goal of making the lightest bridge to hold the most weight. The Patchogue-Medford winners included:

18th Nicolette Ward
17th Tina McAuliffe
13th Denisse Aquino
11th Brandon DeLeva
9th Patrick Voorhees
8th Katheryn Capone
7th Alexandra Smaldone
6th Olivia Calisi
5th Shannon Fisher
4th John Hartsough
3rd Justin Schulz
2nd Michael Grazio
1st Brianna Shortell

The first place winner, Brianna Shortell, and the second place winner, Michael Grazio, now will represent Suffolk County in the International Bridge Building Contest in Chicago at the end of April.

Editor's Note: Due to a word limit in Patch photo captions, here is the full list of the people in the large group photo.

Front row (L-R): Dr. Randy Rusielewicz, Principal, Alexandra Smaldone, Denisse Aquino, Tina McAuliffe, Nicolette Ward, Katheryn Capone, Olivia Calisi, Brianna Shortell, Richard Yngstrom, Physics Teacher
Back row (L-R): Michael Grazio, John Hartsough, Brandon DeLeva, Patrick Voorhees, Shannon Fisher, Joseph Filippone, Director of Science, Adult Education and Technology Education