Valley View Senior Kyle Kolcharno, Peckville, recently participated in the International Bridge Building Competition in Chicago, IL. Kyle’s senior project in Drafting IV was to engineer and construct a balsa wood bridge that met a certain set of criteria, weighted as little as possible, and held as much weight as possible. In the Valley View High School competition, Kyle placed first, with his bridge weighing 23.5 grams and holding approximately 76 lbs. before failure. The top three bridges from Valley View advanced to the regional competition held at the Viewmont Mall in February. Students that qualified for regionals from Valley View were Kyle, Joseph Koniszewski, Samual Dodd, and Jacob Motisko. Kyle placed second in regionals, which qualified him of the International Competition in Chicago. The competition was on May 7th at the Illinois Institute of Technology where Kyle placed 21stout of 55. Kyle said: “Opportunities like this for students are what set Valley View apart from other schools. If allows students like myself to experience real world competition against a diverse set of opponents. It proves the caliber of Valley View’s instructors to teach applicable techniques which can be used by students well into the future, continuing to put Valley View graduates a step above rest.”
Kyle will attend King’s College in the fall majoring in 3 + 2 Civil Engineering Program with the University of Notre Dame.
Kyle is the son of Chris and Karen Kolcharno
Pictured left to right; Mr. Ken Rupp, Technology Education Teacher, and Kyle.