Build a Bridge...and get over it!
- Students walking across the bridge they designed and built at the 2007 Camp
Build A Bridge...and get over it! is a 3 day Camp run by REROC in partnership with The Compact. The Camp aims to encourage students in years 10 to 12 to consider a career in civil engineering. Students participate in practical, hands-on activities over the three days that allow them to experience the work that a civil engineer does.
Engineers from the REROC region mentor the students, while the Riverina Institute of TAFE is contracted to provide the course content and a facilitator/trainer. The Camp is held at Borambola Sport and Recreation Centre on the outskirts of Wagga Wagga.
- Students participate in team building activities
Students who attend the Camp are drawn from across the REROC region. In 2006 the first year of the Camp 24 students participated and 22 attended the 2007 Camp. Numbers attending the Camp are restricted to 24 to ensure that the participating students have the best possible experience.
Students are divided into four groups on arrival, they work in these groups for the duration of the Camp. The first activities undertaken are team building exercises run by Borambola Sport and Recreation staff to help the students get to know each other.
- Students try laser levelling
On the first day of the Camp students participate in training sessions on topics that include soil testing, compaction testing, spatial co-ordinates and laser levelling. Then each group begins the work of a designing a bridge, in 2007 the bridge had to span a small creek.
- Students work in groups to design and build a model of their bridge
Students build a model of their design and prepare a budget as well. Once the bridge designs are completed, they are judged by the students and the facilitator against a standard criteria, the design that scores the highest marks against the criteria is the winner.
A full scale version of the winning design is built by the students on the third and final day. The students who designed the winning bridge act as project managers, the rest of the students are the builders.
- In 2007 students had to build a bridge over water and used canoes during the construction phase
In 2007 the extra challenge of building the bridge over water meant that students had to work from kayaks to construct the full-sized bridge.
Students walked across the finished bridge at the end of the final day to collect their certificates of participation for the Camp and "graduate". Parents, friends and members of REROC and the Compact attend the ceremony which is followed by afternoon tea and presentations about civil engineering courses from tertiary institutions and information on engineering scholarship programs.
- Students walk across the bridge to receive their final certificates
