| OTIA III State Bridge Delivery Program |
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| Web Brief (Feb 08) |
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Elkton HS winning pylon designer, Richard Sanchez
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ODOT inspires Elkton High School students with design contest (Feb 08)
In a high school auditorium with more than 100 students, teachers, community members and reporters, a challenge ignited a creative flame.
Most high school students aren’t especially interested in transportation infrastructure. So, last April, when members of an ODOT outreach team presented Elkton High School students with an opportunity to design decorative pylons—slender structures that would flank the four corners of the Elk Creek Bridge in Bundle 401, Oregon 38: Elk Creek to Hardscrabble—it came as no surprise that the presenters were met with blank stares.
That was until the students were presented with an opportunity that’s hard to refuse at any age.
Larry Gescher, Slayden Construction’s project manager on Bundle 401, strode to the front of the auditorium, took the microphone and offered $500 to the student who came up with the best pylon design. The students’ blank stares immediately transformed into the raised eyebrows and shining gazes of piqued interest.
Despite the $500 prize to the individual winner, working out a theme for the design was a collaborative effort. Before settling to work, the students agreed that the theme for the pylon design should be Elkton’s past, present and future. Logging and agriculture have been the backbone of the local economy and the reason that many of the town’s original residents chose to live there. In addition, the Elkton area is known for its abundant wildlife. To the EHS students, all these things were essential to include in pylons that would be framing the bridge’s entrance and exit for decades.
Students interviewed family members and long-time citizens about what symbols they thought belonged in the design, and local artists were invited to the school assembly in which the project was discussed.
“The students took the lead, but every Elkton resident had a chance to be involved,” said EHS teacher Debbie Williams. “For example, the Elkton Community Education Center has a hatch-and-release program for Monarch butterflies, so the butterfly was chosen to represent both nature and tourism in this community.”
After the research and months of preparation, the winning design was announced in December. The winning designer, Richard Sanchez, a junior at EHS, designed pylons that will use a Douglas fir log, representative of the local timber industry, to form the pylon bases. To signify Oregon, the “Beaver State,” he modeled the top of the pylons after beaver-chewed logs, pointed with a texture made up of rough teeth marks and scratches. A grapevine entwining the log symbolizes agriculture and tourism, and carvings of four significant wildlife species—steelhead, elk, osprey and Monarch butterflies—will also adorn the pylons.
“I just listened to what everybody thought should go into these pylons and came up with some drawings of what they described,” said Sanchez. “It will be pretty cool to see the designs become part of the bridge.”
The pylons will be created over the course of three days this fall. Contractors will use shotcrete, a sprayed-on form of concrete that is pliable as it dries, to form the pylons. Once the concrete sets, color is then added through a process of staining.
Students not involved in designing the pylons are still being encouraged to contribute to the project. The school’s shop class will build a 12-inch-square time capsule that the bridge building team will include in one of the pylons. The contents of the capsule, thoughtfully chosen by EHS students, and the capsule itself will be entrusted to Gescher during an assembly March 19.
For Sanchez, the $500 may become a scholarship. He has applied to a summer art institute in Colorado Springs, Colo., and will use the pylon designs as part of his portfolio.
“The bridge program project has given our kids a chance to make a lasting contribution to their community,” Williams said. “Many of their families have lived here a long time, and these pylons will be a prominent reminder of that communal history.”
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