March 12, 1999
Contact: Diane Greenberg (516) 344-2347 or Mona S. Rowe (516) 344-5056
For the second consecutive year, William Thornewell, an East Islip High School student, won first place in Brookhaven National Laboratory's annual Model Bridge Contest. Placed under a stress tester (shown in photo) Thornewell's 39.1-gram bridge held more than 303 pounds, or more than 3,524 times its own weight. He beat his own record of last year, when his bridge held 3,089 times its own weight. Thornewell won a $100 gift certificate to a local computer store, courtesy of Brookhaven Lab. With their round-trip airfare paid by Brookhaven Lab's new management team, Brookhaven Science Associates, Thornewell, and second-place winner Alex Rotz, from Huntington High School, will get a chance to enter the 1999 International Bridge Building Contest, which will be held in Chicago, Illinois, in April. Approximately 300 high school students from 21 schools in Suffolk County entered Brookhaven's contest, which is funded by the U.S. Department of Energy.
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Richard Kurtz (center), a Huntington High School science teacher,
represents Alex Rotz, who won second place in Brookhaven National
Laboratory's annual Model Bridge Contest. Placed under a stress
tester, Rotz's 35.3-gram bridge - which is displayed by Marty
Woodle, a volunteer contest engineer from Brookhaven Lab - held
more than 246 pounds, or 3,164 times its own weight. Janet Tempel,
coordinator of the Lab's bridge contest, holds a $75 gift certificate
to a local computer store, which will be given to Rotz, courtesy
of Brookhaven Lab. With their round-trip airfare paid by the Lab's
new management team, Brookhaven Science Associates, Rotz, along
with first-place winner William Thornewell, from East Islip High
School, will get a chance to enter the 1999 International
Bridge Building Contest, which will be held in Chicago, Illinois,
in April. Approximately 300 high school students from 21 schools
in Suffolk County entered Brookhaven's contest, which is funded
by the U.S. Department of Energy.
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