Nahanni Butte (Apr 21/06) - It's amazing what you can build with popsicle sticks and glue.

Five students in the Grade 5 class at Charles Yohin school in Nahanni Butte discovered that's all you need to build a bridge.

Kiyanna Betsaka, Tonya Betsaka, Lory Ann Bertrand, Mindy Tsetso and Melvin Vital are still excited about their position as overall champions of the 2006 Bridge Building competition hosted by the Association of Professional Engineers, Geologists and Geophysicists of the NWT and Nunavut. The students tied with a team from Range Lake North school in Yellowknife.

Their bridge supported 94 kilograms.

The Grade 5 students heard about the competition when promotional material arrived at the school. They decided they wanted to try it, said Cindy Buterbaugh, the Grade 5 teacher.

"They were quite excited about it because it was something different," Buterbaugh said.

They sent off for a kit and started working on their design in February. On a few different afternoons, George Tsetso volunteered to help the students. The bridge had to be built in stages because the glue had to dry, said Buterbaugh.

"They did pretty good," George Tsetso said about the student's building efforts.

During the construction process, all the students had their own little tasks.

Helping to glue the sticks together was Lory Ann Bertrand's job. Putting weight on the bridge to help the glue stick while it dried was the hardest part, she said.

Kiyanna Betsaka was in charge of cutting the popsicle sticks into the right lengths.

"I was really surprised because I didn't think it would win," said Betsaka.

Mindy Tsetso was also skeptical that the bridge would hold much weight, but enjoyed putting it together.

"It was really fun helping to build the bridge," Tsetso said.

Part of the bridge's winning secret was that after everything was dry, George Tsetso went back and reglued all of the seams.

"I think that helped it quite a bit," said Tsetso.

When it was finished, the bridge, along with two others made by older students, was flown to Yellowknife where it was tested at a special ceremony in Centre Square Mall. The bridge was up against 40 other entries from across the Territories.

The win was made even more exciting by the fact the Grade 5 students won more recognition than older students at the Charles Yohin school.

In the Grades 6-8 category, one of the Nahanni Butte teams placed fifth out of 13. The Nahanni Plus team in the Grade 9 to 12 category placed fifth out of 11.