40 middle school students learned the basics of engineering and will continue to do so in a weeklong summer camp at the University of Alaska Anchorage.
On Monday, students used computer modeling and hands-on construction time to build their own prototypes of buildings, and throughout the week they will get more advanced.
The prototypes will be subjected to destructive testing to measure strength and efficiency.
"We get to destroy stuff, which is really cool," said Ne`ve` Monroe-Anderson, 7th Grader. "You don't often see a camp that says 'structure destruction.'"
"We break a lot of stuff - we like to break stuff to see how strong it is," said Scott Hamel, UAA Engineering Professor. "It's always a question during my courses: 'How much is that going to hold? What is the capacity of that'?"
"It's what we design for as engineers, it's fun to see what it will actually take," said Hamel. "As an engineer you don't actually get to break your bridge."
UAA will host other free of charge camps, sponsored by BP, for robotics and alternative energy camps later this summer.
Contact Neil Torquiano