Indian River teams take top spots in JCC spaghetti bridge competition

Indian River students took first and second place in the high school division of Jefferson Community College’s 19th annual spaghetti bridge competition in Watertown on Thursday, Nov. 12, 2026. Middle and high school students built bridges from pasta and hot glue as part of the engineering-focused event.

The competition was scheduled from 9:30 a.m. to 1:15 p.m. at SUNY Jefferson. High school prizes were planned at $100 for first place, $50 for second and $25 for third. The top middle school team was set to receive $25, according to JCC’s competition information.

The event is hosted by JCC engineering students and is intended to encourage high school students to consider engineering. Teams are judged by the ratio of the load a bridge holds to the bridge’s own mass when it fails.

Indian River’s first-place team credited repeated practice and design changes. Students also described weight distribution and precise alignment as important factors in how much a bridge can hold. The second-place team included Indian River senior Joseph Summerlin, who was competing for a second year and plans to study engineering in college.

Indian River teams also took first, second and third place in the 2025 competition. In 2024, an Indian River team called Team Dick’s Sporting Goods won with a 21.6 load-to-weight ratio. The same team won in 2025 with a ratio of 28.75.

Past competitions have included students from Indian River, LaFargeville, Carthage, Wiley, Alexandria Bay, Immaculate Heart, Thousand Islands and Watertown. Registration for the 2026 event closed Oct. 15. Information about future competitions is available through JCC or from engineering instructor Kerry Kennett at kkennett@sunyjefferson.edu.