Academics
Signature Programs
Bridge Building Competition
One of the most anticipated events of the year at Ransom Everglades is the annual bridge-building competition, which attracts students from physics, engineering, architecture and other classes. Students build bridges out of basswood sticks, then submit them to strength testing to determine the sturdiest bridges.
The strongest structures advance to an exciting competition at the Lewis Family Auditorium, where a winner is determined. The finalist bridges are subjected to gradually increasing loads as the upper school student body watches, cheering, shrieking and groaning as each bridge eventually splinters into a heap of sticks.
The interdisciplinary competition annually includes hundreds of creative entries, and the most aesthetically appealing bridges are also recognized. The final day of competition is always a wild, fun event for the entire upper school led by physics teacher Paul Natland ’02.
The strongest structures advance to an exciting competition at the Lewis Family Auditorium, where a winner is determined. The finalist bridges are subjected to gradually increasing loads as the upper school student body watches, cheering, shrieking and groaning as each bridge eventually splinters into a heap of sticks.
The interdisciplinary competition annually includes hundreds of creative entries, and the most aesthetically appealing bridges are also recognized. The final day of competition is always a wild, fun event for the entire upper school led by physics teacher Paul Natland ’02.
Recent News
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Junior wins annual bridge competition
Amid cheers, thumping music, dimmed lights and animated play-by-play from physics teacher Paul Natland '02 at the Lewis Family Auditorium, Tomas Griffin '25 won RE's annual bridge competition with structure that held 1,425 times its weight before finally splintering. More than 180 upper school students in RE's physics, engineering, architecture and other classes entered the 2024 competition, and the 15 finalists competed in the raucous finale March 18.Read More -
Junior wins 2023 bridge competition
Delio Gonzalez '24 was mobbed by frenzied fellow juniors after his 21.74 gram matchstick bridge held 41.0 pounds before finally splintering in the Ransom Everglades' 2023 bridge competition. With an efficiency of 909.7, Gonzalez's bridge showed the best combination of size and strength of any of the more than 200 bridges entered in the annual competition, including the 18 finalists tested in front of the entire upper school student body during a raucous event on March 14. Max Wiesenfeld '23, last year's champion, won first and third place in the aesthetic competition. Photo GalleryRead More -
Junior earns double victory in bridge competition
As weight was applied to the bridge of Maxwell Wiesenfeld ’23, his name climbed methodically up the leaderboard projected on a huge screen in the Lewis Family Auditorium. Wiesenfeld, the last competitor in the final round of Ransom Everglades’ annual bridge competition, surpassed student after student, 14 in all. By the time he landed at the top of the day’s rankings – his basswood-stick bridge bearing 56.0 pounds before finally shattering – his fellow students’ murmurs had grown to shouts, and absolutely no one in the auditorium was sitting.Read More -
Bridges – and records – shattered during bridge event
Bridges weren’t the only things broken during Ransom Everglades’ always anticipated annual bridge-building competition final round – myriad event records were also shattered in the epic and exciting finale on April 14. As always, the event featured the dramatic destruction of the school’s top bridges to determine the strongest by weight. The theme of the 2021 RE Bridge Competition said it all: "Not even the strongest survive."Read More
Rafael Dovarganes ’22 emerged as this year's bridge-building champion with his record-breaking bridge. Watch the entire event here. -
Junior wins dramatic bridge-busting finale
The bridge built by Yuhan Liu ’21 finished first in Ransom Everglades’ highly anticipated annual bridge-busting competition at the Lewis Family Auditorium, outperforming the other four finalists as each bridge was loaded with weight until it splintered dramatically to shouts and applause by students.Read More
Check out the scene in the Lewis Family Auditorium as Yuhan Liu's bridge is tested here.
Watch the video (RE Builds) produced last year on the competition here. -
Senior's bridge splinters last in annual spectacle
Read MoreEvery year, Ransom Everglades students strive to build structurally sound, aesthetically pleasing bridges out of basswood sticks, and the strongest structures advance to the the annual bridge-busting competition at the Lewis Family Auditorium.There, each student’s hard work is transformed into a heap of shattered sticks.
Mike Hannan ’19 earned victory in this year’s splintering spectacle, as his svelte 16.04 gram bridge withstood a force of 37.01 pounds before collapsing (1,119.8 efficiency). He topped Joseph Kodsi ’20, whose 23.83 gram bridge managed a weight of 53.81 pounds before reaching its breaking point (1073.5 efficiency), and Jennifer Lin ’20, who finished third (15.42, 33.81, 1070.7) – and also won second-place in the aesthetic competition.
Photo Gallery -
Junior wins annual bridge-busting competition
The carefully crafted bridge made by Alex Otero '19 splintered spectacularly like the other 16 on the Lewis Family Auditorium stage during the annual Upper School bridge-busting assembly March 6. But Otero's basswood-stick creation supported 60.6 pounds before its dramatic collapse – holding more weight for its size than any other entry – giving it first place. Joshua Abrams '18 earned second and Emma Broad '19, third place.Read More -
Junior's bridge splinters last in exciting event
Hip hop blared, strobe lights flashed, a counter counted, cheers rose and tension mounted as, one by one, students' basswood bridges withstood increasing force in the spotlit center of the Lewis Family Auditorium March 14 during the annual Upper School bridge-busting competition. Morgan Eismann '18 won first place in the thrilling event, her bridge displaying the greatest strength for its size before splintering amid applause, roars and groans.Read More
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Paul Natland ’02
“It’s a raucous event. We’ve got music playing, and it’s great to see them standing out of their seats and cheering as the best bridges are broken in front of everybody.”
Middle School
2045 South Bayshore Drive, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 250 6850
Upper School
3575 Main Highway, Coconut Grove, FL 33133Phone: 305 460 8800
Founded in 1903, Ransom Everglades School is a coeducational, college preparatory day school for grades 6 - 12 located on two campuses in Coconut Grove, Florida. Ransom Everglades School produces graduates who "believe that they are in the world not so much for what they can get out of it as for what they can put into it." The school provides rigorous college preparation that promotes the student's sense of identity, community, personal integrity and values for a productive and satisfying life, and prepares the student to lead and to contribute to society.