GOUVERNEUR -- Gouverneur Central School's fifth grade teams emerged as the winners of Clarkson University's Toothpick Bridge Competition this spring.

Austin Lacey placed first with a load weight of 13.8 pounds. The team of Adam Deam and Gavin Sawyer placed second with a load weight of 13.2 pounds.

The Toothpick Bridge Competition culminated several weeks of engineering design activities in which students learned about civil engineering, load design efficiency and materials production. A total of 70 students attended with 37 bridges to test.

The program was funded by a New York State Extended Day Grant, an after-school program serving six North Country school districts and coordinated by St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES. The districts provide academic support and partner with local agencies for enrichment activities. The agencies are Cornell Cooperative Extension, Seaway Valley Prevention Council, SUNY Potsdam Fine Arts Department and Clarkson University’s Shipley Center for Innovation. The districts involved are Edwards-Knox, Gouverneur, Herman-DeKalb, Lisbon, Norwood-Norfolk, and St. Lawrence Central.